{"id":26,"date":"2023-02-11T19:51:48","date_gmt":"2023-02-11T19:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mariemeisner.me.holycross.edu\/?p=26"},"modified":"2023-02-11T19:51:48","modified_gmt":"2023-02-11T19:51:48","slug":"new-semester-new-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/mariemeisner\/2023\/02\/11\/new-semester-new-me\/","title":{"rendered":"New Semester, New Me?!?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Greetings Holy Cross community!!! I apologize for the slight delay in posting- I&#8217;ve been busy with schoolwork, extracurriculars and other commitments (the semester definitely picks up quickly but it&#8217;s nothing we can&#8217;t handle!), and haven&#8217;t found the time to update you all on my recent life adventures. However, I do have some very exciting news to share: I officially declared an <a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.holycross.edu\/academic-plans\/english\/english-major\/\">English major<\/a> (with a <a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.holycross.edu\/academic-plans\/english\/creative-writing-concentration\/#text\">Creative Writing Concentration<\/a>) last week!<\/p>\n<p>Holy Cross invites its students to take full advantage of the liberal arts education and explore subjects they wouldn&#8217;t have otherwise, so that&#8217;s why first-year students come into Holy Cross undeclared and cannot declare any academic programs (major, minor, or concentration) until February 1st. Many students are still trying to figure out what they&#8217;d like to pursue- which is okay!! -and have until second semester of their sophomore year to do so, but for me personally, I knew I wanted to study English for as long as I can remember. I&#8217;ve always loved reading and writing- it&#8217;s always been a subject I&#8217;ve shone in at school, and after taking <a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.holycross.edu\/search\/?P=ENGL%20130\">Poetry &amp; Poetics<\/a> (the first step of the English major) last semester at Holy Cross, I knew for sure this was what I wanted to do. This semester, I am enrolled in two English classes- <a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.holycross.edu\/search\/?P=ENGL%20230\">Touchstones 1: Early British Literature<\/a> (the second step after P&amp;P) and <a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.holycross.edu\/search\/?P=ENGL%20141\">Intro to Creative Writing: Poetry<\/a> (in order to get started with the Creative Writing concentration), and both of those have also been a blast. So far, I&#8217;ve learned the oddities and complexities of Middle English as we read <a href=\"https:\/\/chaucer.fas.harvard.edu\/pages\/literary-works\"><em>The Canterbury Tales<\/em><\/a>, and I&#8217;ve studied what makes up a poem, including writing one of my own! (And of course, if you have any further questions about the English major, etc. at Holy Cross, I&#8217;m open to questions- there should be a space to leave comments at the bottom of the page! The English department itself is also an incredibly skilled group of professors that would love to hear your questions.)<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, this semester I&#8217;ve dedicated more time to getting exercise, whether it be through free pilates classes offered at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.holycross.edu\/campus-recreation\/recreation-and-wellness-center\">Jo<\/a>, &#8216;casual yoga turned impromptu ballet lessons&#8217; with friends (I&#8217;m just as confused as you are on this one), and, as the weather gets nicer, running outside, most notably on the scenic trails at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worcesterma.gov\/city-parks\/blackstone-gateway-park\">Blackstone Gateway Park<\/a> just minutes away from campus. Obviously, last weekend&#8217;s record-breaking temperatures prevented anyone from getting any exercise outdoors, but being able to bundle up in my warmest boots and comfiest sweaters with some hot chocolate wasn&#8217;t too bad either \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>Finally, this spring I&#8217;ll be embarking on a totally new experience, thanks to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.holycross.edu\/faith-service\/office-college-chaplains\">Holy Cross Chaplain&#8217;s Office&#8217;s<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.holycross.edu\/faith-and-service-opportunities\/immersion-programs-domestic-and-international\">Spring Break Immersion Program!<\/a> During the week of spring break, students involved with SBIP travel to various sites around the country and carry out a service trip that invites them to form connections with others and deepen their faith. The program places an emphasis on the &#8220;<em>with others<\/em>&#8221; portion of the Jesuit motto of &#8220;being people for and with others,&#8221; and is a beloved aspect of the Holy Cross experience that I am eager to participate in myself. This year, I have the pleasure of traveling to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.larcheusa.org\/\">L&#8217;Arche<\/a> site, which is where adults with and without intellectual disabilities live together in community, and I even got a sneak peek of what this joyful and loving environment looks like through a fantastic L&#8217;Arche dinner earlier this week. Though SBIP won&#8217;t officially begin for another month, I am so grateful to all who made this trip possible, and for all of the blessings that are to come.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks again for reading- until next week!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greetings Holy Cross community!!! I apologize for the slight delay in posting- I&#8217;ve been busy with schoolwork, extracurriculars and other commitments (the semester definitely picks up quickly but it&#8217;s nothing we can&#8217;t handle!), and haven&#8217;t found the time to update you all on my recent life adventures. However, I do have some very exciting news &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/mariemeisner\/2023\/02\/11\/new-semester-new-me\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;New Semester, New Me?!?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":587,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/mariemeisner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/mariemeisner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/mariemeisner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/mariemeisner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/587"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/mariemeisner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/mariemeisner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/mariemeisner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/mariemeisner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/mariemeisner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}