Tag: Winter break

Get Those Thinking Caps Back Under Those Winter Hats

Get Those Thinking Caps Back Under Those Winter Hats

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Even though Winter Break is officially over, I clearly did not get enough sleep because at 8:00PM Monday (the first day of classes), I realized that I’d been wearing my sweater backwards all day. What a warm welcome back!

Now that I am done laughing at my silliness, it’s time to get back to my Loyola blog. Since my last post, we’ve had Christmas, New Years, holiday parties, and snow (well, kind of). Here are the highlights and lowlights of Winter Break 2012-2013:

Highlights:

  1. The Saturday before the New Year, I was lucky enough to say goodbye to 2012 with my mom at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin, where we went snowboarding/skiing. The slopes were awesome, and I was ecstatic that for the first time in my life, I didn’t fall once while boarding. I started getting very tired by the end of the day, so unfortunately we left earlier than either of us hoped, but I didn’t want to end my streak with one of my classic dramatic falls that, though they tend to come out quite graceful, give me a headache and turn me into a five-year old with a bad mood.
  2. New Years Eve was one of my best ever. I spent it with my best friend and my boyfriend, along with a bunch of other friends (and people I didn’t know). We began by listening to the B96.3 music countdown (is anyone surprised that “Call Me Maybe” was number one?), and when we got home, we turned on the New York New Year’s countdown on TV. We welcomed the New Year with lots of hugs and laughs before falling into a deep slumber for the first time in the New Year.
  3. Though some may find this highlight not so fun, being able to consistently go to the gym was a huge highlight for me. I kept up with my workout routine, even when cookies were a great temptation, and for that, I’m really proud of myself. I credit my workout regimen as the reason that I didn’t fall when I went snowboarding because my strength, flexibility, and balance have all gotten better in recent months. Don’t agree that this is a highlight? Then clearly you don’t work out enough.

Lowlights:

  1. One lowlight was the fact that I didn’t get to work more hours during Winter Break. Though it gave me plenty of downtime, I was looking forward to logging more hours while I could because we all know it’s not fun to be a broke college kid (not that I’m broke…).
  2. Another lowlight was that there were several activities that I didn’t get a chance to do during break. I wanted to go sledding and ice-skating and build a snow fort, but the weather was uncompromising. Chicago’s lack of snow this year meant that the snow fort and sledding ideas have been put on hold, but I’m still holding out hope that we’ll have a nice snowfall before the winter season ends.

This winter break was a short one, done before I could even blink, but many great memories have been created from it. Let’s cheer for a great end to one thing, and an even greater beginning to something else, our Spring 2013 semester!

Lucky Number Twenty!

Lucky Number Twenty!

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I have reached my twentieth blog (not counting my miniature Autobiography), hurray! In celebration, here’s a nice picture I took of the Chicago skyline:

This skyline is as lovely as the real one.

Now, my brief Thanksgiving Break breakdown:

Wednesday: I went to King Spa with my mom, as I said I would. While there, I tried an aloe juice drink– one of the yummiest drinks ever! If anyone ever goes there, try one of them. They have real aloe chunks in them, which filled me up because I was hungry, and they have a sweet taste to them that satisfied my sweet tooth; it took all my strength not to chug it and order another one.

Thursday: On the grand day, my mom, my grandmother and I made a Thanksgiving feast consisting of our signature vegetable salad, mashed sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and stuffing, chocolate cake, and of course, a beautiful Turkey. My cousin and her family, and my boyfriend joined my mom, grandma and me in the festivities before my boyfriend and I went to his brother’s home to continue the feast. I said I would compare the two, and I must say, they were nearly the same. We had the exact same food, only cooked in different ways- both were scrumptious.

The rest of the break was lazy and chill, spent exercising, sleeping, hanging out with friends and avoiding homework. Luckily, nothing important was due the moment I came back.

All in all, this was the best Thanksgiving break that I have ever had. I can’t wait to see what Winter Break has in store for me!

It’s (Almost) Thanksgiving Time

It’s (Almost) Thanksgiving Time

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I wrote about the Canadian Thanksgiving several weeks ago, but the American one is coming up fast now. Just yesterday, I was sitting and thinking about how Halloween was almost a month ago, Thanksgiving is in a week, and within weeks it’ll be Winter Break and the rest of the Holidays. We’ve even had our first frost recently!

Because of Thanksgiving, we only have classes Monday and Tuesday next week, which means that Tuesday night, I’ll be heading over to my hometown in the Northern Suburbs. I’ll be spending some time with my mother, which I’m really looking forward to (and I bet she is too). On Wednesday, we are planning on going to King Spa in Niles, IL, a place that we go to several times a year to unwind and get peace of mind.

Thursday will be Turkey Day, so we’re hoping to have a family “dinner” at our place. I say “dinner” because we always eat at around 3:00PM. I’m looking forward to putting my cooking brain on and maybe trying out some new recipes to make along with my usual Thanksgiving favorites. I love to make the sweet mashed potatoes and corn-off-the-cob. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Along with my own family’s Thanksgiving, I’ve been invited to my boyfriend’s family’s Thanksgiving dinner. The timing is perfect because my stomach will settle after round one right before I begin round two of eating. I’ve never celebrated a holiday twice in one day before. I don’t know if this is a good thing or not, but I’ll let you guys know based on how stuffed (pun intended) I am.

One thing that will be cool about celebrating twice -other than double the food- is seeing how my two Thanksgiving dinners will differ from each other. Other than seeing Thanksgiving on television, I don’t recall ever experiencing it outside of my own family, so I’m excited about trying something new, or seeing that it’s similar to my own.

I hope to post again before the break begins, so until next week. Have a safe weekend!

November News

November News

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Halloween has come and gone, and it’s now November. Registration is next week, so those of you who haven’t started preparing your classes, get on it! I’ve come up with a crazy schedule for myself, and it’ll be a miracle if I get it just right. I’ll update you all next week on how things went. Here’s to hoping!

As promised, I said that I would post a picture from Fright Fest last Saturday. Here it is:

And just because this was amusing, one more:

This year’s festivities weren’t quite as outgoing as they were several years ago. The costumes were definitely better, I’ll give them credit for that, but by the time daylight had gone and night had fallen, only several creatures had come out to play. If I decide to go next year, I’m hoping that this changes, because with the weather being that cold, it’ll take more entertainment than I got to stick around.

One fun new thing that I experienced at Fright Fest, though, was the showing of a short musical called “Love at First Fright”. It was cute, funny, and entertaining, incorporating jokes in relation to “The Vampire Diaries” and “The Hunger Games”. Another plus? It got me out of the cold for about an hour.

Back to talking about school and registration, along with signing up for classes, people should start considering searching for jobs and internships. Whether you are looking for a seasonal Winter break job or a Spring semester internship, the positions are filling up rapidly. I’ve begun my search for an internship, and so far it’s coming along smoothly. I’ve gotten two calls back, and I’m hoping to land one of them. I’ll keep you guys updated!

Since we are preparing for Spring semester already, that means that Winter break isn’t too far away, and before break come the dreaded Finals. I know that you all don’t want to think about them quite yet, but begin to consider reviewing materials because for many of us, like me, tests are cumulative and worth a huge chunk of our grades. No matter how well you are doing in a class, some Finals can make or break your grade, so don’t let them swallow you up.

Just a little tip for preparing so early in advanced- look over your materials and try and refresh your memory for now, and material that you didn’t understand before, now is a good time to figure it out. If you need help with a subject, but have not yet gone in for some, don’t be afraid to ask. Find a buddy in class, talk to your teacher, or get help from a tutor. From personal experience, I know that I love to study with classmates- it’s fun and social, and yet very helpful to have a student like yourself explain material to you that you didn’t understand from your teacher or the text. Take that into consideration.

Back in Baumhart

Back in Baumhart

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As I start this post, I must first note that it is seriously FREEZING outside!  While walking from class to class today, I had to concentrate very hard on finding the motivation and willpower to leave from one building to the next.  But alas, I am now in the safe and warm confines of my Baumhart Hall and now that my fingers are sufficiently warm, I will now proceed to share my tales from winter break and other current affairs.

Winter break seemed like a promising time to catch on some much needed rest and relaxation, but in all honesty, I have never seen four weeks go by so quickly.  I definitely let myself slip into some bad habits.  These habits include, but are not limited to… nocturnal sleep patterns (resulting in sleeping in to very unreasonable hours of the day), eating unjustified amounts of junk food and watching TLC.

Let me explain that last one.  Normally I watch very little, in fact, almost no TV.  As there isn’t much to do in my hometown, I began to explore the array of channels offered by our DISH and I stumbled upon TLC.  This channel has some of the most terrifying shows I have ever seen. Examples include  “Hoarding: Buried Alive,“ “Toddlers & Tiaras,” “Dance Moms“ and many more!  I would prefer not to go into much detail about each shows,  as they are not all that pertinent, but I will say that they are very disturbing. And yet I could not change the channel.

Now that I am back at school, I can concentrate on the more practical aspects of life, studying!  I also have started my spring internship as the School of Communication reporter.  In fact, I have already finished my first article about an exhibit soon to be shown at the School of Communication.  The exhibit, Too Young to Die, is a photography documentary series by a Chicago photographer, Carlos Javier Ortiz.  Other than writing stories, one of my favorite aspects of being a journalism major is the opportunity to meet and interview so many interesting people.

As far as classes go, I am eager to begin some of my projects for my color theory course (I’m a studio art minor).  The best part of taking an art class?  The fun school supplies, of course!  For color theory, I had to purchase a seriously large stack of colored papers (314 sheets of beautiful color, to be exact). But for now, my first assignment is to make a color wheel (It’s a little more serious than it sounds). Other than that, my other classes seem enjoyable enough.   For now, however, I’m ready for the weekend!

Beep. Boop. Beep. Faceplant.

Beep. Boop. Beep. Faceplant.

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To quote one of my favorite online musicals, “Man, it’s good to be back.”  While my break was pretty fantabulous, by the end of it, I was itching to get back to campus and engage in social interaction with beings other than my mother and my cats. That being said, my break was still filled with some pretty awesome adventures.

After (finally!) catching up on my sleep during the first week of break, my mom and I trekked to Wisconsin so she could cross-country ski, and so I could eat copious amounts of cheese. Arguably, the highlight of the trip was our New Years Feast – just my mom and I in the hotel room, eating deviled eggs made from hard boiled eggs we stole from the breakfast buffet. It was definitely one of those “Is this real life?” moments.

You can't have a New Years Feast in Wisconsin without multiple kinds of cheese. It's just not allowed.

Upon my return “down south,” as the Wisconsinites I talked to fondly called Illinois, I did everything from lying in my bed all day watching Netflix to feasting at Flat Top to making my glorious return to suburbia and reuniting with all of my friends from high school.

However, I’d say that the indisputable highlight of my winter break was the Star Wars marathon sleepover that I had with my friends, Scott and Maureen. In one 10 hour time span, we watched all of the movies from the original trilogy, and assigned ourselves characters. It was quickly decided that Scott was the equivalent of Wedge, while Maureen and I were R2-D2 and C-3PO, respectively.  To cap everything off, we made Star Wars themed cookies. And by “Star Wars themed cookies,” I mean that we made regular sugar cookies and called them all the Death Star.

"How rude." - C-3PO

In the end, I’d say that my break was a success, filled with awesome memories that I’ll cherish for years, or at least until I make new break memories during summer vacation!

Picture of C-3PO – Attributed to Travis S.

Welcome Back!

Welcome Back!

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As I hauled all of my luggage back into my dorm room on Monday and greeted my roommate, it felt like I was gone a few days not a whole month!

Thats right, we got a month off of school between the fall and spring semesters. Most of my friends back home only get two or three weeks and are always extremely jealous.

One of the best parts of having such a long break is being able to work and make some extra cash. I was able to work in my Dad’s office. He owns a head hunting business and I did filling and answered the phones when the secretary took some days off.

When I wasn’t working I was either sleeping, reading, hanging with high school friends or sleeping. I slept a lot over break. It was an awesome to catch up with everyone I hadn’t seen in so long and reminisce about great memories. We made cookies, watched movies, played outside in the snow and ate a lot of good food.

Another awesome part of having a longer break than my friends is that I was able to go visit them at their colleges when they went back. I visited Western Michigan, Michigan State and the University of Michigan all before coming back to school. It was so cool to see how different each school was!

My favorite school I visited (which is still nothing on Loyola) was the University of Michigan. My boyfriend goes to school there so he was able to give me the tour of campus and show me how beautiful it is! It was a lot colder there though than I was used to and we had to make a pit stop to get some hot chocolate.

Overall I had a great break but am glad to be back at Loyola. Classes started Tuesday and I can already tell it is going to be a great semester!

My high school friends and I after catching up over a sushi dinner.
My Packing Problem

My Packing Problem

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My Thanksgiving break was really great.  I slept in every day.  I ate amazing food.  I got to watch TV, ( I rarely have time for TV at school it seems).  But with every visit home, I run into the same problem and I never quite learn my lesson.  I simply over pack.  Every single time. And yet I know I have absolutely have no reason to pack anything at all! I have sweaters and jeans and everything else I need at home, and still, I cannot help but cram my case full with that “one sweater I just bought which I can’t leave behind at my dorm,” or my favorites boots, which lets face it, I love all of them, and I can’t bear the thought of not having access to them for a whole weekend.  I completely get the level of ridiculousness which is my over packing obsession.

And then I make it home.  I revisit my closet, and, gasp!  I think, “Why did I not take this shirt to school? OR these shoes?!”  The probles escalates, and so does the volume of my suitcase.  The night before my train back to Chicago I switch to a larger one.  I hungrily snatch my beloved possessions and fold and stuff until I reason that if I add anything else there is no way this thing will zip properly.  After my bingeing is over, I zip, and to my dismay, I can hardly lift it!  I re-strategize.  I remove the shoes.  I will, after all, be going home in a few more weeks, and I can live without those for the time being (I hope!).  Just to be sure, I also take out a couple of sweaters.  I zip, and voila! I can lift it, and therefore, I know I can get this baby on the train and not face the embarrassment of a conductor struggling to help me up the few steps.  I made it without any problem this time.

So tonight, as I unpack my last few things, I think how silly it is that I will be filling it back up in no time for winter break.  But I also think that it is just grand that Loyola has provided me with such great closet space for it not to matter so much.