Carrie

My first VIDEO!!

Check out my first video and see me in real life!!

first roadtrip of summer 2008

If you have frequented my blog over the past year, you probably picked up on my love for traveling and visiting new places. However, there are a few places that never get old, no matter how many times I travel to them. One of those places in Montreal - it's a fairly quick drive (less than 2 hours from campus) and seems like another world, despite the fact that it is easy to get to and very accessible. It reminds me a lot of France, but it also has the familiarity of the US - it's a great city.

As I had mentioned in a previous blog, my best friend from home Kristin and I got tickets for Kanye West's Glow In The Dark Tour, which was in Montreal at the Bell Centre last night. I took the day off from work (it's not that busy in Admissions yet) and we left a little after noon. We shopped all afternoon on St. Catherine's Street, had dinner at Peel Pub (so good!) and then went to the show. It was a good show - Kanye had three openers (Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D. and Rihanna) who were all good, especially Rihanna. I'm not a huge fan of her music, but I know a good number of her songs from the radio, so it was cool to see her perform so many songs that I know. After a long setup for Kanye (he didn't come on until almost 11:00!), he played a great set of both newer and older stuff. He's a very different performer than others that I have seen - he was pretty serious the whole time and is a very individual performer so it was only him up on the huge stage for the WHOLE time (his band/back up singers were all set down below the stage wearing black so that you could hardly see them)- I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to rap for far over an hour straight with no one else up there with you. The show had kind of a strange theme, but all in all, his music is amazing and despite our horrible seats, we had a good time. We managed to stay awake for the ride home after the concert by playing Backstreet Boys songs and working on our singing voices - needless to say, it was a great trip.

Kristin and I enjoying the concert!

The community at St. Mike's has become a second family to me, but even though Kristin and I don't share our college experiences, we still can pick up right where we left off and have an amazing time together. She will be gone for most of the summer doing research at SUNY-Potsdam, but for the time that we have together, we are making the most of it! If you have a chance to do a few roadtrips or go to any concerts at all, take advantage of them - those will be the times that you remember and I guarantee that you will be so thankful that you did them!

Congrats Class of 2008!

I can't believe that all of my amazing friends from the SMC class of 2008 have graduated! Commencement was held on Thursday, May 15th - I watched most of the ceremony on a live video broadcast to the website at my house, and I was cheering for all of my friends despite not being there in person. I have so many friends from the graduating class, but I am very close to two in particular - my fellow blogger Mallory and my good friend and Jazzercise buddy Em. After watching the ceremony, I headed to Em and her boyfriend Andy's graduation party in South Burlington where I was able to congratulate the graduates and meet their extended families. Despite the rainy start to the day, it cleared up beautifully and we were able to enjoy the sunshine in Em's backyard.

It surreal to think that I am now an official senior in college! I know that I have the whole summer before I really get started, but I no longer have anyone ahead of me! I will miss everyone from the Class of 2008 next year - I have never been a student at St. Mike's without that class there with me. However, both Em and Andy will be on campus taking graduate classes and working for Res. Life, and Mallory will be in the Burlington area for the summer and then will probably be heading to Boston, but that is close enough to visit!

Things will definitely be different next year at St. Mike's, but I think the biggest difference that I will adjust to is the fact that my sister, Emily, is going to be a freshman! I am excited to share the SMC campus with her, and I know that she will do well and have fun. I hope that some of my readers are either incoming freshman or the parents of incoming freshman - I will try to post a lot this summer and get some pictures or videos of campus up here so that you can add to your excitement! All of my readers are more than welcome to post questions, but if any incoming freshman or parents have questions about adjusting to SMC, who to talk to about a certain concern or just what to bring, ask away!

I can't believe that I have been writing this blog for almost a year - so much has happened! I hope that you have found my experiences to be interesting and informative. I am going to continue blogging through this summer and next year, so please feel free to send any feedback my way. Hopefully I will have many more successful experiences to tell you all about!

WOOHOO summer!!!

I'm on summer vacation!!!

I had my first and last exam on Tuesday morning at 9 (Meterology) and handed in my American Lit. final take home test right after I finished the exam. All in all I feel like I had a successful sesmester; I enjoyed my classes, was on team for LEAP in April, went on a sevice trip to Kentucky and did a lot of other fun stuff with family and friends.

As much as I love SMC and everything that I do there, I also love summer vacation! There comes a point where everyone is tired, stressed and getting sick and they are ready to go home, and I think summer comes at exactly the right time for everyone! The seniors will graduate on Thursday, May 15th, so I will have a graduation party to attend on that day for my good friend Em and her boyfriend Andy, which will be really fun. After that I will start working at the Admissions Office and get back in the full time job mode!

Kristin, my best friend from home who was studying abroad in Salamanca, Spain this semester comes home on Sunday; I can't wait to see her! I haven't seen her or talked to her on the phone since January, so it will be an epic renuion! We are planning to head up to Montreal to the Kanye West concert on the 20th, which was sort of a last minute decision, but is still really exciting!

I can't believe that I'm going to be a senior in college! Everything has gone by so quickly because of all the great stuff that I have been participating in - for all of you high school juniors and seniors out there, I'm sure you understand what I mean because of how quickly your high school years have gone by! As always, please contact me with questions!