Friday: The MLK Society kicked off P-Day weekend by putting on a talent show in McCarthy Arts Center. There were a lot of different performances from people singing original songs and covers of Adele's "Make You Feel My Love", Rihanna's "Take A Bow" (which Gabbi sang), Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" mashup with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow",The Beatles "Blackbird", and other artists to people dancing hip hop and Irish step dancing. Unfortunately, my camera died really early into the show, but I was able to get a little bit of the first act, which was Sleepless Knights (one of the three singing groups on campus) singing Gotye's "Somebody I Used to Know." **Also, I just found this video on Youtube that does an awesome mashup of all of the acts here. Marla, who sang a unique rendition of "I'm Sexy and I Know It" on the ukelele, ended up winning the talent show. You can see her whole performance here.
Saturday: Preparation Day, known as P-Day, is our last day to have fun right before finals and all the studying starts. It started with the Trike Race at 11am. Then, from 1-5pm, the 3s field was bumping with inflatable obstacle courses and a tent full of foods from local restaurants including Skinny Pancake, Ben and Jerry's, Papa Franks, and a lot more other food places. Also, bands were playing outside on the fields while all of this was going on. After that, there were comedian acts in the Ross Sports Center, which included SMC's Kit Rivers. Following her really funny act, Alliot had a midnight breakfast. Here are some pictures and videos from throughout the day:
As a tradition of P-Day, people make their own P-day jerseys for it. My friends and I did a 12 on the back of our shirts for 2012 and then did our nicknames underneath of it.
inflatable obstacle course
The Bull
Both of the Morgans and I right before the Trike Race
Inside the food tent
Sunday: Brendan and I usually have our radio show from 12-1pm but the person before us asked if we could cover her timeslot, so we had to wake up early after a long fun filled day on Saturday. It was cool because Brendan's roommate, Darren Glover, is a rapper and we always play his songs on the show. Today, Darren stopped by the show to share about how his two favorite rappers are Drake and Kid Ink and he also talked about how he began rapping and what is the inspiration behind his music. Here's a song by him below!
This was the perfect way to wrap up the end of the school year. I just have finals that start this Friday and go until next Thursday, then I'll be moving out. As the end of the year kind of winds down, I thought it would be cool to share some of my top moments from freshmen year, so that post will be coming up sometime soon :)
Check out some of the other posts on P-Day Weekend from other SMC bloggers Matt, Alex, Kayley, and Lisa!
This weekend, my family, along with other families, were invited for Family Weekend. There were a lot of events that were going around campus such as the showing of the play APPetite, which my friend Brendan is in, and other musical performances. Since my family arrived a little bit later Friday night, I went to see APPetite with some of my friends and it was awesome! It was a play about how technology is playing a huge role in our society, which I realized is a pretty repetitive theme that I've learned in my media classes. It was cool to see a spin on it that was not only honest, but really funny. My family lived at Church Street for both Friday and Saturday as we went to Sweetwaters on Friday night (never disappoints) and enjoyed the rest of the scenery on Church Street since there were a lot of late night performing acts going on including a guy balancing on a bunch of chairs stacked up pretty high.
Church Street late at night!
my brother's girlfriend, my brother, and me
Morgan, me, and Tan Wai
On Saturday, my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, and me and my two friends, Morgan and Tan Wai, went back to Church Street to eat at Ken's Pizza and Pub. Then, we all went to Pure Pop Records, a music store right near the Roxy movie theater (where I usually live at since I love going to the movies). At Pure Pop Records, it was Record Store Day, which meant that everything in the store including CDs, records, DVDs, and posters were on sale.
All these CDs were for free!
The three day weekend flew by, but it ended on a really good note since me, my dad, Brendan, and his dad did our radio show today. Both of our dad's have been avid listeners since the first semester, so they came even more prepared than me and Brendan since they made their own playlists for the show.
Getting ready before the show
father/daughter and father/son bonding during the show
It's crazy how freshmen year is almost over. Just P-Day, Finals, and then summer! Stay tuned to my post coming up about P-Day, which from what I've heard, is a pretty good time.
To kick off the start of Earth week, Earthfest took place yesterday in our gym, Ross Sports Center. At Earthfest, there was a band called Mission South that played while there were many things to do. Personally since I love ice cream, I went over to the Ben and Jerry's section where they were handing out free scoops of ice cream. There was also a smoothie bike, where you could make your own smoothie then ride the bike to blend everything together. Among the free food provided, there was also tye-dying and face painting. Here are some pictures from the day!
On the left,
Brendan got into all of his four classes on the first try. On the right,
roommates Brianna (left in picture) and Emily were freaking out because
Brianna didn't get into all of her first choices for classes.
For some people, registering for classes can be either a successful or scary process. On a regular day, Knightvision is at ease and it's great for looking up grades, classes, and major requirements, but when it comes to registration day, Knightvision can be hectic. You wouldn't think that registering for classes is competitive, but seats for classes can fill up quickly. Luckily, this time around, I clicked the register button exactly at 7am. I had to wait in suspense to see if my classes went through to fully register, and I ended up 3 for 4. I got into Intro to Philosophy, Children's Lit Studies, and Research Methods I. Since I just changed my major to Media Studies, Digital Arts, and Journalism, I was freaking out because I didn't get into any media classes.
So, what happens if you don't get into a class that you need for your major?
Well, first, definitely don't start to freak out too much. The first thing you should do is to e-mail the professor for the class and explain why you would like to take the class. I emailed Traci Griffth, who was my Media Revolutions teacher first semester, to see if I could get into her Media Law and Ethics class. To my surprise, she e-mailed me back within minutes to say that all I had to was show up to class on the first day with an add class slip and she would allow me into her class. If the teachers do not give a response right away to your e-mail, it's a good idea to also petition to get into a class, which requires filling out a piece of paper explaining why you need to take the class.
Here's my final schedule for the fall semester:
Literature for Children and Adolescents 8:00AM-9:35 AM Monday, Wednesday
Examines literary genres of fantasy, folklore, prose,
fiction, picture books, biography, and nonfiction. Discussions focus on
content analysis, literature related to interests and development of
children and adolescents, including gender and multicultural aspects.
Students are expected to read a substantial number of books for children
and adolescents.
Introduction to Philosophy 9:45AM-10:50AM Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The course both shows the student the nature and value of philosophical
inquiry, using only primary texts such as Plato's dialogues and other
major philosophical writings, and, at the same time, invites the student
to become personally philosophical by developing their own way of
seeing the meaning and value of things. One way of coming to see how
deeply human and profoundly personal the questions of meaning and value
examined in philosophy are is by coming to understand how they would
remain unanswered even if some day we were able to answer all the
questions of the sciences.
Research Methods I Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11:00AM-12:05PM
The course trains students to be knowledgeable consumers of public and
professional psychological research by stressing theoretical and
practical aspects of the field's research techniques. Topics include the
theoretical standards psychologists use to design and evaluate
research, the concepts underlying informational analyses, and the
methods psychologists use to communicate findings.
Media Law and Ethics in Digital Age Tuesday, Thursday 9:45AM-11:20AM
This course explores the political, historic and philosophical roots of
the First Amendment. Particular emphasis is given to the legal and
ethical problems of the new communications technologies; other topics
include libel, privacy, obscenity, newsgathering, copyright, and the
free press/fair trial dilemma. The class also provides insights into how
the legal process works and an understanding of the principles and
philosphies that underlie the restraints on and privileges of the media.
After analyzing what the law says journalists can do, the course moves
into the ethical component of what they should do. Using basic
philosophical theories, students analyze ethical dilemmas through the
use of case studies. Using multimedia, guest speakers and current events
the course considers media law and ethics and its impact of
journalists' ability to fulfill the historic function of the press to
inform the public.
Also, quick reminder that there is a Knightchat tonight from 7:30PM-9PM! It's a great way to talk to prospective students about Saint Mike's and I'll be there tonight answering some of the questions.
If you are unable to attend it tonight, there's always more to sign up at http://www.smcvt.edu/knightchat/ and if you have any other questions, you can always tweet or formspring!
When I heard that Ben and Jerry's was having a Free Cone Day and Boloco was having a Free Burrito Day, I was pumped that food was fo free (quoting Bridesmaids scene above) because the word free makes every college kid excited. Unfortunately, I couldn't find enough time to go downtown to Burlington to get a free cone, but the Ben and Jerry's truck actually came to Saint Mike's to hand out free pints of ice cream!
Line outside of Boloco.
Then, the next day, I went to Boloco on Church Street for Free Burrito Day. The unexpected hail storm and the long line got in my way of getting a free burrito from Boloco. Instead, my friends and I went to Panera (which is just as good as Boloco, but just not for free).
I know that I didn't fully participate in these free food days, but I thought it was still a pretty cool experience to share with you all. Note to self: Next time something like this happens again on Church Street, I'm going to be more determined and more prepared to stand in a long line.
Q: If I'm not Catholic (or even, say, agnostic), would I still be okay at Saint Mike's?
Coming into Saint Mike's, I had the same concern you had especially since I have the same religious background. The only religious requirements you have to fulfill are a 100 level religion course, a 100 level philosophy course, and your choice of a 200 level of either religion or philosophy. Other than that, religion is not something that is forced at all. Mass isn't required, so it's not something that would make you feel left out if you didn't attend it. Personally, I've found myself fitting in really well here due to other interests and activities. I hope that answers your question and if you have any more feel free to ask! :)
Even though I told my friends and family about my technology fast, I still received a lot of notifications through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and my phone. Above are the numbers that I tallied up today since I was given back my phone and was allowed to check my e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter.
Considering how I'm writing this blog post now, it's safe to say that even though I got a lot of missed notifications, I survived a whole week without Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and my cell phone. Surprisingly, it wasn't as hard as I initially thought it was going to be. If anything, this fast had perfect timing since it was a really busy week with schoolwork, so I didn't need any technologies distracting me.
This week, I learned a lot about my technology usage and other people's too. I was more aware of how much my friends used their phones in certain surroundings, especially when eating at Alliot or doing homework in one of our rooms. Some of the conversations during these times were very frustrating, since I would say something and they would respond back after they had finished sending their text or checking Facebook. It was pretty hard to be around my friends who were constantly using technology, but I realized that I do the same exact thing they do. My parents always nag me for being glued to my phone and not concentrating on what they have to say to me, and for the first time, I think I would have to agree with them. I think it was good to not use technology for a week, so I could learn how to adjust to life without technology and also to get some time to chill without any distractions. This fast taught me to change my ways in certain scenarios. Today, I have already shut off phone when I was doing homework, at the dining hall, in class, or talking to someone. I plan to continue to do those things.
One quick story that I thought I would add. Although I didn't really miss my phone that much, I must say that not having my phone made me miss one very important event. Obama came to Burlington last Friday and according to people, he drove past Founder's Hall. Alex tried texting and calling me telling that he was driving past Founder's, but since I didn't have my phone, I didn't know about this was happening.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed reading about my wonderful experience without technology!
