Every year, my family and I venture to upstate New York for a weekend of skiing and other winter activities. Though I possess very little athletic ability, I can at least hold my own when it comes to skiing. In fact, skiing is probably the only sport that I really enjoy. That being said, my family’s ski trip is one of my favorite weekends of the year.
After a week of papers and exams, a weekend on the slopes is just what I needed to unwind. With my roommate Cat and my sister Abby in tow, I set out to meet my family in Cleveland last Thursday. After loading up the car, we were back on the road Friday morning. By mid-afternoon, we had arrived at Holiday Valley Resort in Ellicottville, New York.
In light of the recent Winter Olympics in Sochi, Cat and I were amped up and ready to take on the slopes. After conquering all the black diamond runs and racing down moguls, we were sure that we were up for a trip down through the terrain park. If it’s not obvious from the picture above, we severely overestimated our abilities.
Other than a few cuts and bruises, not to mention embarrassment, we came out relatively unscathed. From then on, we decided to stick to our strengths and spend our time on less daunting hills. Then it was back to the lodge where my Mom had whipped up some homemade gumbo. It was the perfect way to warm up after a day in the snow.
So though I feel it in my sore muscles, the weekend was totally worth it. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m no Shaun White, but maybe with some practice I can take on the terrain park again someday.
When The Prestige first came out on DVD during my sophomore year in high school, I happened to be flying back from a trip to Israel. Because of this coincidence, it playing on its own channel during my 12 hour flight from Jerusalem to New York. The movie is just over two hours, and they played it about 5 times. I watched it every single time.
The reason for this high school throwback at the beginning of my annual “Look what an awesome time I had during my winter break this year!!!11!” post is that throughout my holiday break, I couldn’t stop thinking about the ending of the movie.
We hear Cutter (played by Michael Caine), explaining that, “every magic trick consists of three parts, or acts.” And, if I needed a quote to describe my winter break, that was it. It was grouped into three different segments of time and every one felt just like magic.
Part 1 (aka Livin’ the Dream)
Christmas at a children’s hospital!
During the first week and a half of winter vacation, all my dreams had come true. I was able to limit myself to four activities: 1. watching cheesy CW television shows; 2. sleeping; 3. working Christmas shifts at the hospital; and, 4. sleeping some more.
After my semester filled with at least 48 hours without sleep at least once a week and countless commitments to take care of, it was so nice to go to work in the afternoon, watch television all night, and sleep all day.
I know that it sounds like working over break wouldn’t be very fun, but surprisingly, it was a blast. Since I work at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, we constantly had Santa and his elves dropping off toys for our patients. And we got to wear awesome holiday themed headbands!
Part 2 (aka JewFest 2013)
Last year, I spent Easter Vacation in Miami, Florida with one of my best friends. Since she had visited me at Loyola our freshman year, we wanted to go somewhere different for what we have now decided is our now annual reunion.
Our destination for junior year: New York!
Reunited…and it feels so good!
We ate, saw, and did so much over the 10 days we were there.
We…
…inadvertently ended up spending New Years Eve in the penthouse at the Waldorf Astoria
… and reunited with many of our old counselors from the camp where we first met each other about 10 years ago.
While New York and everything in it is pretty ballin’, seeing all of our old friends was definitely the best part of the trip. We saw staff (including my first counselor, who I hadn’t seen since I was 10!) and other campers who we used to be in awe of, whispering to each other, “OhmyG-dohmyG-dshe’sSOCOOL.” And the best part…they treated us like real grown ups now!
Finally, with one weekend to spare and after only 2 days back in Chitown, I went up to my mom’s cabin in Minocqua, Wisconsin with my two friends, Maureen and Scott.
We had originally planned on going skiing, but that fell through when the snow did. However, we still had as much fun as three kids alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere could have. Spoiler alert: it was a lot.
Wilderness Explorers!
We watched an obligatory we-are-three-kids-alone-in-a-cabin-in-the-middle-of-the-woods horror movie, in addition to cooking meals, convincing family friends to give us free meals, going hiking, and even playing some pretty intense Scrabble. It was the perfect.
Even though I’ve cut down on my commitments (maybe i’ll actually get sleep now!) this semester, I still have a long ways to go before summer vacation. I’m really grateful for the chance to rejuvenate before I dive back into school life, and I can’t wait to see what Spring 2013 brings me!
Photo 1 attributed to myself
Photo 2 attributed to myself; used with permission from the ballin’ Rachel Niederhoffer
Photo 3 attributed to, and used with permission from, the lovely Batyah Weiss
Photo 4 attributed to the grown up Koz; used with permission from Maureen “Cool Cat” Burns and Scott “I Haven’t Been Scared Since Alien” McCoy
Happy fall! What’s not to love about this time of year? Students are back on campus, the summer heat is slowly disappearing, pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks and it’s travel season for Admission Counselors!
This will be my first travel season and I’m ready to hit the ground running after weeks of phone calls and emails trying to schedule as many high school visits/college fairs as possible. I’ll attend 62 school visits and 12 college fairs in just 26 days in the following 4 states: Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey and New York.
All of the Admission Counselors are putting the finishing touches on their schedules, and we will be traveling just about EVERYWHERE! You can check out the travel schedule online to see when a Loyola Admission Counselor will be at your school or town. My advice if you do meet with an Admission Counselor- Ask Questions! Take advantage of the opportunity to meet with us in person; we can provide you with tons of information about our school and the admission process.
Not only is the office busy with fall travel this month, but we are also busy planning the first Open House of the year, which is Saturday, October 20th! If you’re up for a little traveling of your own, Open House is definitely a great way to visit campus and get a taste of Loyola University Chicago!
I’ll spend much of the next two months in planes, trains, automobiles, and hotel rooms, so that should allow me some time to blog and share tips about the admission process and Loyola!
