Tuesday, November 30, 2010

First Day of School... Take Two

All my textbooks for the term... lots and lots of reading!
Welcome Back Everybody!

I've officially had my "first days" in all of my classes and I'm as ready as I'll ever be to start Winter Term.  I definitely have a thing for the first day of classes... not only do I have new classes (which, thank goodness b/c I was getting sick of my old classes!), but it's a great chance to see new faces, mix up your routine a little bit, and have a fresh start =)

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I have History, Textiles (my fashion class) and a Textiles Lab.  So needless to say, I'm pretty busy. 

My day starts off with US History III: 1945-Present.  The majority of my books this term are for my history class; I hear you do a LOT of reading for this class!  The class consists of a few mini papers scattered throughout, a midterm (1/3 take home, yipee!), a term paper of our choice, and a final (which is the rest of the 5 weeks).  This is a class fulfills the Mercyhurst "Common Core," so a variety of people from all different majors might choose to take this class.

I then have an hour and a half break before Textiles for my Fashion Merchandising requirement.  In this class, we'll learn about over 100 different types of fabrics and what each type is made of, how it's made, and where it's used.  And after the class, we have a lab.  In yesterday's lab, we looked at different fibers under a microscope and compared the differences between them.  It'll definitely be an interesting, but difficult class... I'm sure this isn't the last time you'll be hearing about it!

That brings me to today, which is my "dance day."  The class I'm taking, Dance Appreciation, also fulfills Mercyhurst's "Common Core," so a variety of students take this class.  Now, there are other classes you can take to fulfill your "art's appreciation" requirement of the school, but I thought a dance class, since I danced all my life, would be fun!  We were told that on Tuesday's, there's the lecture/history part of the class and on Thursday's we dance in the studio.  Don't get me wrong though, I'll definitely be busy with work for this class too, but I'm looking forward to dancing once a week!

That's it for now because I'm off to a meeting for the student government committee that I'm in...

Toodles =)

Sarah

Monday, November 22, 2010

Thanksgiving Break

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for not blogging the past few days... I've been on Thanksgiving Break since Wednesday and decided to take a bit of a blogging hiatus as well.  Break has been wicked nice... I've worked at Marshalls (a retail store... and probably one of my favorite stores too!), done some Xmas shopping, and of course, CATCH UP ON SLEEP! Right now, I'm actually blogging from my brother's desk at school... he goes to school in MA and I'm bringing him home, but spending the night in his dorm room, so that's pretty fun.  Thanksgiving is on Thursday, which is also really exciting (can't wait for the food!) and then that'll be the tail end of my break.

Once I get back to school, I'll have more frequent blogs! :)

Until then--

Sarah

Monday, November 15, 2010

Flashcards, Food, and Friends

My blog title basically sums up the past week of my life: flashcards, food, and friends.  It's finals time here at the 'hurst and it's NOT a good time to be a laker, haha.  Finals actually start today and go until Wednesday, and of course, all of my finals are on Wednesday, so I'll head home Wednesday afternoon.

There's a picture of my desk at my apartment with all of my flashcards. **FLASHCARDS ARE LITERALLY YOUR BEST FRIEND IN COLLEGE! (and worst enemy, haha)** I swear, if I have to study another flashcard about "what makes a good quality garment" or "what we can do to save the environment," I may just lose it...

But to keep myself from losing it, luckily I have my evenings, which is when I do anything and everything that isn't productive.  Thursday night, I went to my friends' apartment and a bunch of us hung out, Friday night, I hung out in my apartment and booked a ticket to Florida to visit my roommate over Christmas break (YAY!!), and that brings me to Saturday night:


Saturday night a bunch of my roommates' close friends and I went to Applebees for a going away party, since one of our friends is transferring after this term.  I've actually been hinting to my roommates for a long time now that I've been wanting to go out to dinner, especially during finals weekend. Any chance to just get off campus, especially when you're with your friends eating good food and getting "dressed up" is always fun. 

My friend Jess and I got spinach and artichoke dip for an appetizer, and then I got shrimp and pasta with a spicy sauce and it was delicious.  Here's Jess and I with the leftovers...

Well, that's literally an abridged version of my weekend.  The next two days will definitely be spent in the library studying, so nothing too exciting, but it has to get done.  Wednesday seems like SUCH a long time from now...

Hoping time flies...!

Sarah

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Thanksgiving Came Early... Literally!


Hi Everyone!

I'm blogging after eating probably one of the best, if not the best dinner on campus so far this year.... Thanksgiving dinner.  Which is pretty ironic because last year, my "Thanksgiving dinner" was mashed potatoes, a little piece of turkey, and a bowl of Lucky Charms... haha, oops.

Egan, our cafeteria (aka "the cafe") has an annual Thanksgiving dinner, and let me tell you, they go all out.  They have two buffets style tables set up with everything you could imagine, along with their regular serving stations with appetizers and all different types of pies and cookies... here's the menu and the pics of what I ate tonight:

corn, turkey, stuffing, raviolis, and mashed potatoes
and my favorite... apple pie w/ icecream

You might think I'm crazy for getting this excited about one meal, but trust me, when you're a college student living off of mac and cheese, spaghetti, lean cuisines, and sandwiches, a real, home-style meal tastes amazing.

It was a lot of fun because a bunch of my friends and I went to eat together and we had our own "family Thanksgiving dinner."  My roommate and I went with a bunch of our guy friends who are all on different sports teams... basketball, football, club hockey... and you should have seen the size of their plates!  Seeing their plates piled high with food was absolutely priceless and made the night that much better. 

It was a great time to just hang out with friends and relax before we all get too stressed out about finals, which are next Mon/Tues/Wed.  But the nice thing about that is... then we're on Thanksgiving Break for a week and a half.  Now THAT'S something to be thankful for! =)

That's it for now... gotta get some work done before the turkey makes me sleepy!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Time to Study: Ready, Set, GO!?

All I have to say is yay finals, I hope you can sense the sarcasm coming from my bedroom right now.  I made this calendar tonight, and ideally, these are all the things I need to do to be prepared for my finals on the 17th.  Yep, you actually have to start studying early, as opposed to cramming the night before... kind of a bummer, I know.  This isn't even counting all of my extra curriculars, however luckily, I don't have too many.  And we have no classes on Friday, which means a FOUR DAY WEEK :)

I did however, manage to have some fun this past week before the madness begins.  Like on Wednesday, my roommate and I literally had nothing to do, so we decided to go shopping, get Coldstone, and then watch tv in our pajamas... which NEVER happens.  And on Thursday, my roommate and I decided to make puppy chow, which is this delicious snack... you should definitely look it up if you don't know what it is :)  The last time I made it, I was in in 7th grade and it was our big baking project... now, it literally took me 15 minutes, tops.  Funny how some things get easier as you get older!

This weekend was an interesting weekend, but fun never the less.  Friday, I went to the mall with my friend Anna, and then later on in the evening, my friend Laura and I had a What Not To Wear tv marathon night, while painting nails.  Saturday, I was really busy because I had to work at the school's Open House (which is a really great thing to go to if you're considering Mercyhurst) and then I had a leadership conference all day until the evening.  I did manage to find time to go disco bowling with my friends from 12-2 AM, despite how exhausted I was.  Sunday as usual, was my homework day.  My friends and I planned a surprise birthday party for one of our friends, so we had that which was fun.  And right now, I'm catching up on some homework/preparing myself for a busy week.

Let's cross our fingers and hope that my coming week isn't TOO demanding ;)