Day One of Summer Internship

Initially, I was so set on doing something in my life in the field of Psychology. I often got asked if I could see myself doing anything other than Psychology and I immediately thought to myself, What else would I even do? I also heard from a lot of different people that it's really common to change to your major around, especially in your first and second year. Once again, I thought I wasn't going to be that person to do that. Psychology was what I wanted to do without a doubt. Well, things sure changed because I ended up changing my major at the end of my first semester to Digital Arts, Media Studies, and Journalism. A little bit different, right? Even though I had a lot of interest in Psychology, I didn't want it to be my primary focus, but I still wanted to take a lot of classes in it to expand my knowledge in the subject. I decided to declare Psychology as my minor.

While busy gaining experience for my MJD major by starting the HerCampus branch for Saint Michael's along with my friend Alex, I figured doing an internship dealing with Psychology would give me a chance to explore my minor. Yesterday, I started my first day at my internship where I am a co-facilitator of a group therapy session that revolves around kids from 6 to 12 years old who are dealing with divorce and loss. As a co-facilitator, I help out during group activities and discussions. Since it was the first session, there wasn't a lot of in depth discussions about why everyone was there. Instead, my instructor and I focused on icebreakers to make sure everyone felt comfortable with one another. After everyone introduced themselves, there was a fun filled activity up next that helped everyone open up. The activity first required that the group made up a name for themselves. After a lot of crazy name throwing around from The Avengers to the Cow Mooers, everyone thought the best name was The Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies (kids really are so creative as I would have never even thought of that.) Then, together the kids and I created a flag that had the group name and a personal drawing or signature on it from everyone in the group. It was interesting to see that even though the activity was fun, it showed a serious side to the kids from some of the things they ended up drawing.

Honestly, it was an awesome first day because I got to understand a lot about how counseling works. You can't expect to have someone tell you everything about their situation the first day you meet them. It's a growing process and I can't wait to see not only myself grow throughout this experience, and also the kids I am working with!

Finding Out Your Roommate

By now, you should have your New Student Guide which is almost like Saint Michael's very own encyclopedia; it informs you about everything you need to know. It lets you know about classes, dorms, room essentials, summer programs, and a lot more!

When I first got my New Student Guide last summer, I couldn't put it down. I was excited to look at all of the classes I could take and to see what summer programs I could sign up for. I was also excited, yet nervous and scared for filling out the roommate survey that is also included in the guide. I was looking forward to finding out who my roommate was going to be, but I was also scared and nervous because what if I wasn't matched up well enough? What if my roommate and I didn't get along? Well, after answering questions about what kind of music you listen to, what time you go to bed, how clean or messy you are, etc, it's all a matter of sending in your survey and waiting until early to mid July to find out who your roommate is. You'll receive an e-mail through your SMC account saying what dorm you will be living in and who your roommate is. For me, when I got that e-mail all of those initial worries I had faded away. It felt like the whole college experience was becoming real. Also, the e-mail gives you your roommates's contact information. I recommend that as soon as you find out, you get in touch so you can figure out what things you have in common and who will bring what (refrigerator, microwave, tv, etc.)

And a little side note.. for those who also read Alex's blog may have seen that we have been working on a super top secret project together. Well, we just received the good news the other day so I thought I would share it with you all! We have officially started a Saint Michael's chapter on hercampus.com. The Saint Michael's chapter most likely won't be launched until the Fall, but meanwhile check out the site to see what it's like!

any questions? formspring, tweet

Transitioning to College

 As an active member on the class of 2016 Facebook page, I'm seeing that everyone is excited about the Fall! It's still hard to believe that my first year is over, but I'm looking forward to meeting the incoming class and starting off my second year. Granted that my first year flew by quickly, I still remember everything I felt when moving in the first day. Transitioning to college is a huge huge change that is exciting and scary at the same time. Before going into college, I knew it was already going to be different from high school for a lot of reasons: different class schedules, living with a roommate, no parents around, flexible dining hall hours, etc. Since it was a whole new lifestyle for me, I initially thought I was going to struggle a lot with transitioning from home to college. That turned out to be true for the first couple of weeks of school. I had trouble from being away from home and that led to the natural homesickness most students feel their first year. At first I was afraid the feeling of homesickness was never going to pass, but to my surprise, it faded quickly.

Homesickness is one of the many things that incoming freshmen worry about when leaving their home and entering college. For me, staying busy at school with work and hanging out with people helped the most to avoid feeling homesick. It took my mind off from thinking about how I missed my friends and family. I remember how in the beginning of the year I had a bundle of mixed emotions. I was excited about having a sense of sudden freedom, but at the same time, it felt really weird to go from seeing and talking to my parents everyday to talking to them here and there.

That being said, calling your parents is an okay thing to do. If anything, your parents want to hear all about your new classes, new friends, and new experiences. I called my parents almost every day the first couple of weeks of school to let them know how I was doing. After a while, I noticed that the busier I got with my school and social life, the less phone calls were made. Instead of the phone calls, texts from each other were another form of communication that seemed to be more convenient for both of us with our busy schedules. My parents understood my reasons because it's just a part of transitioning from home to college. You start to grow a sense of independence while being away from home.

Orientation week is where the whole experience starts. What I found was most helpful throughout orientation week was just being open to introduce yourself. Most of the conversations seemed to start out with, "What's your name?" "Where are you from?" Being that person who lives 40 or so minutes from Boston worked well in my favor because most New Englander's know where it is (see this funny interpretation of it for fans of The Office here). It's something that started up the conversation and led it to finding out what similar things I had in common with people. The first day of orientation you'll be able to tell by that orientation week is full of icebreakers to make you feel comfortable. I mean, you'll see a bunch of orientation leaders shouting your name and hear them blowing whistles. Finding people who have similar interests will help you stay in your comfort zone and branching out will help you feel ready to join different clubs and organizations to make the transition easier.

any questions on transitioning to college or anything else? tweet or formspring :)

Summer Jam 2012

In April, it was a month away from summer and my friends and I knew that exactly what we needed to buy-- a ticket to summer jam. We all went last year and it was such a fun time. What's cool about Summer Jam is that multiple artists come to it. Last year, I was looking forward to seeing Chris Brown, Big Sean, and Lupe Fiasco performing. This year, I wanted to see Big Sean again and other artists like B.o.B and Tyga, but once I heard that Nicki Minaj was going, I was pumped to see her performance the most since I'm such a big fan of hers. Needless to say, she was really good live. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera to bring to the concert to take videos, but here's who else performed at Summer Jam and pictures from both years!

Line up of this year's Summer Jam, which also includes Kid Ink

Last year's Summer Jam

Despite the bad weather this year, me and my friends still were determined to go.