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As of 4:51 EST, my freshman academic year is over. It really was cathartic when I handed in my FYP exam booklet. Professor Kee was one of the very first professors that I met, and he has been one of my professors for the entire year. He really helped me strengthen my writing skills, and challenged me to always write above my potential. When he shook my hand and told me to have a nice summer, my freshman year was officially over.

With a year’s worth of experience on the hill, I’ve decided to create a “Do’s and Don’ts” list for the incoming first-year students to help you all prepare for and enjoy your freshman year.

Do’s:
• Do join at least one club. Try something new. Get as involved as you can. You’ll meet upperclassmen who have probably taken some of your classes, know their way around Worcester, and understand what it’s like to be a freshman.
• Do take a challenging upper-level course your freshman year if you can. I’m very glad that I took US Intelligence Communities with Professor Bunke. That class pushed me to do my absolute best, and I also had a fantastic professor that I’m probably only would have met my senior year. So, if there’s an upper-level class that interests you, take the initiative, and contact that professor to see if he or she will let you in.
• Do speak up in class. Show your professors that you read the material before class, and that you know what you’re talking about.
• Do utilize your professors’ office hours. Even if you had a question or just wanted to talk about a reading for class, talk to them in their office. When you have a paper due, go and talk to your professors about your topic. Even if you don’t have any questions about your paper, talk to them to see if they have any suggestions (they are brilliant people, so they’re bound to have some) for you. I really cannot stress this enough!
• Speaking of papers, do go to the Writers’ Workshop. It’s always beneficial to have another pair of eyes read over what you’ve written (especially if your paper is worth 25% or more of your grade), and your professors are alerted if you received help from a writing tutor. It’s basically a free tutorial in writing. Why not take advantage of it?
• Do take advantage of Worcester. This is a very vibrant city. Do what my friends and I did one sunny Saturday – take the Woo Bus into town, go explore along Main, Center, and Franklin streets. Find some restaurants that you like. (For future reference, get the eggplant lasagna at Brew City. It is fantastic.) Find some shops. Even though there’s free transportation to Boston and Providence, you don’t have to leave Worcester every weekend to find something entertaining. 
• Do bring an external hard drive or some other form of external back up. I was lucky that I had an external hard drive with me when my computer randomly crashed. If not, all of my files might have been damaged. Save all of your papers, music, photos, and other information to it.
• Do bring a rug, fan, and lamps to college. The bigger the rug, the better. Fans are key during August and September. You will need as many lamps as you can fit in your dorm room.
• Do work at Kimball if you can. You will meet so many other freshmen and also get about fifty dollars each week. That fifty dollars goes a long way in college, trust me. I didn’t want to work at first, but now I’m very glad that I did. Plus, I’ll be a Kimball captain next year, so you should definitely sign up for one of my shifts. Just kidding. Well, sort of.
• My parents are going to kill me for this one, but do use Facebook during the summer to get to know some other freshmen. I met Katie through Facebook, and we’ve been friends ever since. There’s a Holy Cross 2012 group on Facebook, and that’s a great place to go if you have any questions or concerns about absolutely anything regarding your freshman year. However, a word of caution. Do not get addicted to Facebook!
• And, lastly, bring a camera. I only posted maybe a tenth of the pictures that I took on my blog. Even if your friends think you’re weird for carrying a camera around with you everywhere (yes, my friends do), it’s a great way to remember your freshman year. Carrie and I were looking at her photos last night, and we were crying from hysteria over a couple of them.

Don’ts:
• Don’t take a class for just a requirement. Explore the different required areas you have for courses that genuinely interest you. Two of my courses next semester genuinely interest me, but they also fulfill two requirements.
• Don’t bring all the clothes in your closet. Believe me, if you haven’t worn it in the past three weeks, don’t bring it. You will not wear it. You can always go shopping for clothes if you didn’t bring enough, but trying to stuff all your clothes into boxes to go back home is a pain. Believe me, I’m going through this right now.
• If you live close to Holy Cross, do not go home every weekend. There are always events on campus, and you truly miss out on the college experience if you’re always at home. Go home when you need to, and leave it at that.
• Don’t spread yourself too thinly. Time management is so essential in college.
• Most importantly, try not to pull an all-nighter. I have only pulled one all-nighter this entire year, and I think that my body is still trying to recover from it. It’s just not worth it. Whatever you write will not be erudite at all; if you’re lucky, it will be somewhat understandable. Sleep is important.
• Lastly, do not under any circumstances get addicted to Cool Beans. You will spend all of your dining dollars within a few weeks.

And that’s about all of my advice for all the incoming freshmen out there. Your freshman year will be difficult, but if you take advantage of all the opportunities that are available to you here at Holy Cross, then it’ll be much easier.

Ashley left yesterday; Haley, Carrie, and Margaret are leaving tonight; Jess and Katie are leaving tomorrow morning. I feel like I’ve been saying good-bye constantly. At least I won’t have to say good-bye to my blog. I’ll be writing about my experience at Holy Cross until my graduation in May of 2011. That’s in three years. That’s kind of scary.

Earlier today, I successfully transferred all of my dying computer’s files to Haley’s laptop, and then transferred them all to my external hard drive. My photo files were larger than my music files. I had nearly five gigabytes of nothing but pictures. I only started the library on my laptop in August. But at least I was able to do that and it all turned out smoothly.

Right now, I’m in the exam room for my FYP exam, which is my last one. I won’t be leaving until Sunday, however (it’s just how the flights worked out), so I still have some time to pack. This is so sad, and yet I’m quite excited to spend most of my summer at home.

Until tomorrow!

My room is now packed up. Carrie and I didn’t have any exams today, so we decided to pack up the room last night. The rug is rolled up, the posters are down (except for Carrie’s “The Clash” poster), the refrigerator is empty, and all of our stuff is in boxes. It’s quite a depressing site, actually. Our room was always the most decorated in the hall (Carrie and I had a poster-accumulating contest, which kind of turned into something similar to the arms race of the Cold war), and now it’s completely bare. Carrie isn’t leaving until Friday night, and I’m not leaving until Sunday afternoon, but we just needed to get that accomplished. Just a word of advice to incoming freshmen girls – you do not need as many clothes as you think you do. Take my word for it.

In computer news, Haley and I are going to transfer my data to her Mac tonight. Then I get to wait until I go home to get the hard drive/laptop replaced. Although it’s manageable, life without a computer really isn’t all that much fun (there are far less opportunities to procrastinate!).

Right now, two juniors (Tom and Josh) and I are in our Latin room reviewing and comparing translations. There’s still about an hour before our written Latin exam. I’m currently combing through my translations and making sure that all of my verb tenses and noun positions are correct (thank goodness for Whitaker Words!).

After this exam, I have to finish studying for my International Relations exam, which is tomorrow at nine. Only six more days until I go home…Wasn’t it just a year ago that I was studying for the AP exams and preparing for graduation?

P.S. My passport arrived at my house yesterday. So, I am now officially going to Oxford for the summer! Just another motivation for me to get these exams over and done with!

Hey everyone! Quick update for today.

The weather these past two days has felt more like October than May, so it’s still difficult for me to believe that I only have a week left. Life without my own computer hasn’t been too bad. I’ve finished all of my papers in the O’Kane computer lab and Dinand.

Speaking of Dinand, it is absolutely brimming with students right now. Tomorrow is my the written portion of my Latin final, so I’ll be in here until who knows when.

Last night, Katie, Sean, Jeremy, Grant, Ashley, and I all took a break from studying and played imaginIff. Somehow, Sean and I started talking about Lord of the Rings. It was definitely a needed relaxing break!

I have a fun story for you all. Well, it’s not necessarily a fun story. In fact, it’s not fun at all.

Yesterday, I heard this strange clicking noise that was coming from underneath the keyboard of my laptop. I knew it wasn’t the fan, so I started to worry. I restarted my laptop, and then…it wouldn’t restart. It just wouldn’t. I tried everything – resetting the PRAM, the SMU…nothing. So I called Apple to ask what was going on, and they confirmed my worst suspicion. My hard drive is going through a mid-life crisis. It hasn’t crashed yet, but it’s in the degeneration process. Luckily, I finished my Latin paper and already turned it in, and I didn’t start typing out my FYP paper yet. Carrie is being the best roommate anyone could ever have throughout all of this. The technician told me that I can do a data transfer switch, and all I need is a Firewire cable (check!) and a friend who has a Mac (check!). Carrie’s letting me dump all of my documents, pictures, music, etc. on to her computer. After it’s all switched over, then I’ll just transfer it to my external hard drive. We’re not going to do it until tomorrow, when we both have enough free time to make sure everything runs smoothly.

So, I’m getting a chance to see what college life was like before the advent of computers. I’m writing my FYP paper on actual paper and then I’ll type it up in the O’Kane computer lab. It’s not going to be fun, but at least now I don’t have the internet to distract me from my work. Right now, a wise saying from Professor Thomas is ringing in my ears. “You should always save your files to an external back up.” Well, I plan on doing that from now on.

In other news, our FYP banquet was last night. It was extremely bittersweet because it was, in a sense, a graduation. My class is the last FYPpers. The professors shared their favorite quotes from our shared readings, and wished us all well throughout our college careers. In return, the students put on a skit that mimicked our professors’ idiosyncrasies. For instance, Ryan, who was playing Professor Kee,  came onto the stage with a white cotton beard, and continually talked about Plato’s “Good.” One of the best quotes from the script said by Ryan/Professor Kee: “I’m going to write a book. I’ll call it My Thoughts. Chapter One: The Anachronisms in Dante.”  It was absolutely hilarious, and the professors really enjoyed the skit!

All right, I have to get back to my Stone Age version of college. I guess it’s not technically the Stone Age because I do have some (limited) computer access, and I also have my cell phone. So would this be the Bronze Age? The Copper Age? Well, whatever age it may be, this is probably one of the most interesting ways to start out finals week!

Hey everyone! I’m so sorry that I’ve been MIA for a while. This past week or so has been so chaotic, but now I have some time to breathe.

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, gave a lecture called “The Omnivore’s Solution” in the ballroom last Wednesday. For those of you who haven’t read it (I highly recommend it!), The Omnivore’s Dilemma explores the American food industry. Needless to say, there are some chapters in the book that will convince any reader that living on air alone is healthier. Mr. Pollan’s lecture was an attempt to show that one can still eat properly in today’s society. Ironically, Katie was munching on Cocoa Puffs throughout his entire lecture, and we all went down to Crossroads (a.k.a. fried food heaven) afterwards. Mr. Pollan, I swear I listened to your lecture! I just can’t say no to Crossroads’ chicken fingers!

This past weekend was Spring Weekend, and it was a blast. On Saturday, there was a huge carnival up at Hart. There were rides, carnival games, lots of food, fried dough (so delicious), watermelon…the works. Later on that night, there was a fireworks display. It was great until the finale. The last firework that went off was a dud, so the ending was extremely anti-climatic. Oh well, we still had fireworks!

And, lastly, today was my last day of classes. How scary is that? I don’t have a final in US Intelligence, and most of the students in my class are seniors, so Professor Bunke said good-bye to us today. He then wished the seniors good luck with jobs and real life (I am in denial that that will be me in three years). The end of spring semester is so different from fall because winter break is only a month. Summer break seems like a lifetime. I’ll be home for two months, and then I’ll be in England until the end of August. Where are the brakes?!

We had a hall meeting last night about what we need to do to check out of our rooms after our finals. LC told us that the rooms have to be as clean as they were on move-in day. Carrie and I looked at each other, and I mouthed to her, “There’s no way…” Carrie’s side of the room is completely fine. My side of the room looks like an earthquake with a 9.0 magnitude hit it. Packing up and cleaning my side of the room is definitely going to be interesting.

Well, I’m off to finish my two last papers. I’ll be updating throughout the last week of my freshman year!

Why I Chose Holy Cross

In my senior year of high school, I really had no idea what I wanted in a college. I didn’t like high school at all, so I was more interested in just going to college rather than any specific ones. I had followed my sister around on her numerous college visits, and one of those visits happened to be Holy Cross. As she met with the swim coach, I went around the campus with my grandmother and enjoyed the summer weather. We then went on a tour, and I remember that I was extremely impressed. One of the images that was forever ingrained in my mind was Dinand Library (The best way I can describe Dinand is the Beast’s library in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” It is that beautiful and grandiose.). After we left the campus, I told my parents that I liked the school, but I wasn’t wild about attending a college in Worcester. That was the last I said or thought about Holy Cross throughout my Junior year.

In the beginning of my Senior year, I only knew two things that I wanted from college: a strong English department, and a geographic location above the Mason-Dixon line. When I presented my final list of colleges, my mom asked, “What about Holy Cross?” I wrinkled my nose at her suggestion, and said I wasn’t interested because of Worcester. She urged, “I really think that that’s the college for you.” I decided to apply to satisfy my parents, but I had no plans to matriculate. It’s a common teenage syndrome – we never want to admit that our parents truly know what’s best for us.

The next time Holy Cross crossed my mind was when I went to the National Youth Leadership Forum on Defense, Intelligence, and Diplomacy in Washington, D.C. One of the days was a free day for us to explore the city, and, me being the nerd that I am, I ended up in the Capitol and Supreme Court buildings. As I walked around the Supreme Court, I picked up some pamphlets on each of the Supreme Court Justices. I began to read the one about Clarence Thomas, and his alma mater was listed as Holy Cross. Clarence Thomas was also raised in a small town in Georgia. Now, while I couldn’t exactly speak to him about his personal experience about coming to Holy Cross from Georgia, the wheels really began to turn in my mind.

When I returned home from the conference, I began to think more about the colleges to which I had applied, albeit it a little too late. I wondered if I would be truly happy at any of the colleges to which I applied, so I made lists. As I began to write down the pros and cons of each college, I realized, to my surprise and dismay that my parents were correct, that Holy Cross had the most pros. It had the perfect location (close to a large and entertaining city, but not actually within the city), rigorous and excellent academic programs, a small and strictly undergraduate student population, and excellent alumni successes. In addition to this list, Holy Cross also had a vibrant faith life, something that was missing from all of my other selections. I began to realize that Holy Cross was the best academic environment that would allow me to pursue all of my academic interests, specifically English and Latin.

I was at school breaking the set of the musical when my mother called me. She exclaimed, “You got into Holy Cross!” Of course, while I was swayed to Holy Cross, I wanted to go up to the campus one last time before I submitted my deposit. My mom and I went up to Holy Cross for Accepted Students’ Day on April 15th, 2007. This date just might go down in the Holy Cross history books as the worst possible weather for an Open House. A “Nor’easter” was passing through, and right when I saw the snow falling, I began to wonder what I was getting myself into. We arrived on campus, and the weather was chilling to the bone. It was raining, snowing, and overcast. Despite all of this, right as I drove up Linden Lane, I instantly fell in love with Holy Cross.

After attending an address given by President McFarland, meeting a group of English professors and students, and walking around campus, I agreed with my mother. Holy Cross was where I was meant to be. I stayed on campus overnight with Erin, and attended her classes the following day. Experiencing her classes were a huge asset to my decision because I knew that this was the rigorous academic setting that I wanted. When my mom picked me up, I had a huge grin on my face. I myself knew Holy Cross was the school for me. After I told my family members my decision, my grandmother called my mother, and told her that she knew either my sister or I would end up going there. My grandfather called my dad and told him that he had a feeling that I would attend Holy Cross. It seems that everyone knew where I was going to college a long time before I even did. 

In many ways, Holy Cross found me. I nearly didn’t come that summer day that my sister was touring Holy Cross. I nearly didn’t even apply. But, looking back over my other colleges, I know I wouldn’t be as happy as I am anywhere else. At Holy Cross, I have a strong academic milieu and close interaction with my professors, which are unique aspects that I’m not sure I would have received at any of my other colleges. I’ve been able to take extremely engaging classes that pertain specifically to my academic interests. I’ve made enduring friendships with people who are just as crazy as I am. I’ve been able to live out my Catholic faith within an extremely supporting and loving faith community. I know that any other college simply would not suit my academic and social needs or personality in the manner that Holy Cross does. I couldn’t ask for a better freshman year.

There are three weeks left in my freshman year, and the remaining days are fleeting. I only have two more US Intelligence classes left. I only have one FYP paper, one International Relations paper, one US Intel paper, one Latin paper, a Latin quiz, and my three finals left. I know I keep on writing this, but I really can’t believe that time has flown this quickly.

Sophomore years seems to be starting right now. I just registered for next semester’s classes. I was lucky enough to get all four, so I’ll be taking Dante’s Classical Sources, Medieval Literature, Medieval Philosophy, and Jesus & His Contemporaries. On top of that, I’ve been training for Kimball Captain, and trying to get ready for the new freshmen workers next year. I was nominated for Liturgical Coordinator, so I’ve been talking with Paul Covino about mass schedules for next year. I’ve begun shadowing tour groups, and I’ve learned more about the history of Holy Cross within the past week than all of Dinand Library could contain. As if starting sophomore year now wasn’t scary enough, junior year seems to be creeping up on me as well. I’ve been talking to Study Abroad about studying at Oxford University for my Junior year. It feels like the O’Kane clock tower isn’t telling the correct time.

Tonight, I saw the Fools’ weekly show at Cool Beans. Jess was performing her solo, “I’m the Only One.” It was phenomenal. She sounded great as a soloist, and all the other Fools provided the perfect accompaniment. I recorded her performance, but iPhoto isn’t downloading the file from my camera. It’s frustrating, but it is providing some nice distraction from all of my papers and such! Just kidding. Sort of.

Well, I have to get back to my papers right now. I’m currently writing my Latin paper. Professor Vodoklys assigned us to rewrite the founding of our hometown within the plotline of the Aeneid. Combining Latin, Creative Writing, and History? Needless to say, I am having way too much fun with this assignment.

   

“Legally Blonde” is one of my favorite movies; it’s certainly ranked on my top five list. Because of my love for that movie, “Perfect Day,” the opening and closing song, is one of my favorite songs. When my alarm went off this morning, my iPod, which was set on shuffle, started playing “Perfect Day.” And, luckily, today was just that.

Well, let’s begin with the weather. It has been absolutely gorgeous for the past couple of days, but today was exceptionally beautiful. Today was the definition of spring made manifest. Flowers around the campus are beginning to bloom, and the view is simply enough to make anyone happy.

In Professor Kee’s class, we’re reading Dostoevsky’s The Grand Inquisitor from The Brothers Karamazov. Today, Professor Kee told us that Holy Cross is sponsoring a Dostoevsky conference this weekend. The lecturers hail from all over the globe, and these scholars are among some of the most brilliant minds in Russian literature. Professor Kee then told us that students of Holy Cross are allowed to sit in on the lectures for free, and Jess and I are planning on attending at least one tomorrow. I am so excited to be able to listen to some of the world’s most prominent Slavic Literature scholars to speak! Yes, I do realize how nerdy this sounds.

In a way, it seemed that even the buildings wanted us to go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. At around 3:00, the power went out all over campus. No lights, no computers, nothing. The power eventually came back on, but, by that time, we were all playing outside that it didn’t even matter.

My SPUD was canceled for today, so we all decided to have a picnic dinner outside. We all grabbed boxed meals from Lower Kimball, and ate outside. It was one of the most fun times I’ve had while at college. We played “duck, duck, goose,” (I promise we’re freshmen in college) and just enjoyed being outdoors. By the end of dinner, there was a large grass stain on Katie’s skirt, and that really made us all feel like five year olds. I’m trying to explain why it was so fun, but I just can’t! Hopefully the pictures below will give you all an idea as to why this was the most fun dinner I’ve had at college.

Today was just an overall gorgeous and happy day. Actually, it’s been a happy couple of days. I was accepted into the tour guide program, nominated to be a Liturgical Coordinator for next year, and promoted to Kimball Captain. All of my classes have been going well, and my friends and I are having the time of our lives. I know how incredibly sappy that sounds, but it’s quite true!