Disney College Program

2010-11-01T13:05:00.002-04:00

Sadly nothing new or exciting has been going on in my life recently. Work is the same: busy but sometimes slow and boring with crabby and unappreciative guests. However, I had a sort of "magical moment" the other day while at work.

I was checking in a woman who came down to surprise family members. She had requested a room next to her family but knew requests weren't guaranteed. When she asked me if her room was close to her family, I just gave her a look with a small smile and she started tearing up at the front desk and thanking me over and over. She was so appreciative that we were able to honor her request and while experiences like this are far and few between, it made me feel really happy for her because we had "made her vacation".

Halloween was really quiet here. My roommate Denise and I went to the Old Key West resort to watch The Haunted Mansion and then we trapped a cockroach under a plastic cup in our apartment shortly after getting home. Gross. The cockroach has since been killed and we're supposed to have people coming to spray our apartment later today.

We're having a quiet afternoon here and heading to the Magic Kingdom later today. :)

2010-10-18T10:04:00.006-04:00

My sister's wedding has come and gone and it was absolutely amazing! She looked gorgeous and everyone had an amazing time! My parents surprised my sister with a carriage ride to the church so me, my sister, her best friend and our mom were the 4 who rode down while the rest of the bridesmaids had the limo. I've been to 2 other weddings over the past year and my sister's was by far the most fun (and not just because she's my sister). So many people said at the reception that sometimes receptions feel forced or people don't dance or have a lot of fun but from the second the reception started to the very last song, people never stepped off the dance floor. The day after the wedding, the 3 of us flew to Orlando. My sister and Josh had a 3 night "mini-moon" at the Dolphin Resort on Disney property and spent most of their time laying by the pool but also went to the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot. I'm super happy for them :)

Other than that, I've decided to lay by every pool on Disney property while I'm here. There are quite a few resorts for me to tackle but I'm going to track my progess on here:

All Stars: CHECK
Pop Century:
Caribbean Beach:
Coronado Springs:
Port Orleans: Sadly I can't since I work there.
Animal Kingdom Lodge:
Yacht&Beach Club:
BoardWalk Inn:
Contemporary: CHECK
Grand Floridian: CHECK
Polynesian: CHECK
Wilderness Lodge: CHECK

I'm not sure if I'll be able to go to some of the Disney Vacation Club Resorts such as Saratoga Springs and Old Key West...I *may* need a room key to get on property or near the pool so I'll have to hold off on those. But I'm heading off to lay by the pool at Caribbean Beach so that's one more resort I can check off my list :)

FINALLY!

2010-09-29T17:41:00.013-04:00

It's been forever since I've blogged, even though I've made several attempts to write an entry over the past month. So much to say so I'll dive right in!

I'm currently living in Chatham Square in Orlando, which is 1 of 3 apartment complexes for everyone doing the program. I live with 3 other girls; 2 are from Pennsylvania (Denise and Kharl) and 1 is from Maine (Ally). We all get along really well which was a huge relief and our apartment is nice and big even though it isn't well decorated because none of us felt like spending a lot of money to decorate for a few short months.

My first taste of being a cast member was 8.25.10 when I attended a class called Traditions which is an orientation of sorts welcoming everyone to Disney. We watched some video clips, learned about the Disney company and even took a walk around the Magic Kingdom. After that I had 4 days at Disney University for a class called First Impressions. There were only 8 people and we were chosen as either Hospitality or Concierge. Either way, we had to learn the system, the banking in and out process and even got to practice before we were sent on our way.

I'm currently working at Port Orleans as a front desk cashier. I had 6 days of training and then I "earned my ears" and was allowed to be on my own. My trainer is from MA so we had quite a bit to talk about and we get along really well.

In between working all sorts of crazy hours I've been taking full advantage of everything Disney has to offer. My sister and 2 of her friends came to visit for a sort of bachelorette party so we made sure we took a lot of pictures in our rhinestoned shirts. She even got me to ride Splash Mountain 3 times while she was down there...a new record for sure. (Don't worry Jack, our friendship in no way resembles the ride) I got to *slightly* impress her with some of my new found knowledge and secrets about Disney but since I don't want to ruin any of the magic, I'm not going to post anything...some stuff is better left as is.

I also went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party last night with my roommate Denise and we had a blast! I've never been to Disney during any of the holidays and vowed to take advantage of all the special events they have going on.

Denise was dressed as Aphrodite and I went as Mother Nature (even though I was consistently called Tinker Bell) There were 12 spots to go Trick-or-Treating, 2 dance parties with characters like Woody, Jesse and Stitch, who danced to Lady Gaga and was quite possibly the most amusing thing I've ever seen, and there was an amazing themed parade and fireworks show.

I'm incredibly happy and so lucky to be living here right now. I don't miss the fall yet but I am looking forward to being in CT next weekend for my sister's wedding and to have some apple cider :)

2010-05-03T11:52:00.008-04:00

Spring Ball was absolutely lovely! Meg and Delia came over beforehand and we all got ready together. Delia was a huge help in curling my hair and luckily Adam was around to be our photographer. Spring Ball was on the Spirit of Boston cruise and it was amazing. We had a casino theme so 1 level had a ton of casino games set up like blackjack and poker with fake money of course.
Most of the Ambassadors were there with the exception of Haley, Jack, Julie and Mikey. I'm not sure there has ever been an event, besides Open House or Showcase, where we have all gotten together. I should have forced Jack to come, I know he would have had a good time!
Naturally we all got together and took a couple of pictures...John was incredibly excited about making it into the Ambassador picture as you can see... The food was delicious, the music was great and the weather was perfect for our cruise; it was an amazing way to end my Senior year. Thanks Program Council :)

I'm thinking I'll do my final sappy Senior post tomorrow after I've picked up my cap and gown. Crazy!

2010-04-27T12:54:00.004-04:00

I only have 1 more day of classes left and it's crazy how fast the time has flown. (I'll keep all my sappy stuff for my last blog post, I promise!) I'm busier than ever with all the papers I have to finish. I have 2 papers due Thursday and I could hand in a third if I have it done on time which I'm planning on.

Saturday night Haley and Rachel held a Rubix Cube Themed party which was a lot of fun. Sadly I didn't dress up in all the colors of the rubix cube because it was a last minute decision to go; I don't have crazy colored clothes but I was able to drag Jack out for the festivities!
Haley stole most of the pictures I took that night for her blog but this one is one of the best!

Last night was the end of the year dinner and it was a pretty sad night. Jack gave a wonderful speech about me, Chris talked about Nicole and Julie talked about Beckee. Nick and Meg both said incredibly sweet things about us and we all almost cried but we held it together!

The 3 seniors were also given Alumni shirts which was incredibly weird. I can't handle it!

Adam is coming to visit Thursday so I'll try to persuade him to buy me dinner...it'll be a perfect ending to my Senior year. Friday night is Spring Ball; Meg and Delia are coming over to get ready and we're going to go together! Plenty of pictures to come :)

2010-04-14T14:59:00.007-04:00

I just found out yesterday my British Empire class will be ending a week early. I'm thrilled. Our professor also extended the deadline of our paper from the 22nd to the 27th so I have an extra weekend to work on it. Amazing.

Tomorrow my Pirates class is having a Pirate Food day and I'm a little terrified to see what kind of food my professor brings in.

Then next Thursday we're taking a walking tour of Boston focusing on pirate locations and then the final week (27th & 29th) we'll be watching Treasure Island and Pirates of the Caribbean. So stoked.

My other two classes aren't nearly as exciting for the next two weeks. One frustrating thing about my Small Business Management class is there are 8 teams, 7 of which have given presentations 2-3 times. Only 1 team has given a presentation once. It's completely unfair as my group has to do a paper, powerpoint and present 3 times and this one group only has to do a paper. No one has any idea why this team is getting preferential treatment; maybe they aren't and my professor keeps forgetting about them. Ugh.

I have to remember to stop at CVS on my way home today. I'm basically out of toothpaste, I have no tissues or paper towels. I've been forgetting to go for days. Anddd I need to do laundry. Just another thing to add to my list. Blah.

2010-04-06T14:00:00.007-04:00

It's crazy to be able to say I only have 7 days of classes left in my Undergraduate time here at Suffolk. Since I only have classes on Tuesday and Thursday, my days left are shorter than most other students who have classes all week.

I realized today I'm kind of running behind with some work I have to do. I have to come up with a new product for my Strategic Management class by April 15th and I have a 10 page paper due April 22nd; both of those days literally are just right around the corner.

I'll be done on April 29th with 1 final on May 4th which is such a tease! I get almost a full week off and then I have to go back at night on the 4th for a final. Boo.

My Easter weekend was lovely with the exception of Amtrak trains being shut down due to the flooding in RI. I was unable to travel home Thursday night as planned, so my dad had to come get me Friday morning.

Luckily I was able to come back to Boston Monday morning on the first train Amtrak was running since all the flooding. My sister celebrated the 2nd anniversary of her 25th birthday on Friday (she refuses to admit she's 27). Her fiance planned a surprise dinner party for her at Azu restaurant in Mystic, CT which is one of her favorite places to eat.

Easter was a pretty low key affair with my family. I don't get big Easter baskets or anything anymore but my mom still gives me some chocolate and most of my family came over to eat. Other than that nothing too exciting has been going on. My Disney trip has officially been charged to my dad's credit card so I need to start working on paying that off asap. I'll be spending 5 glorious nights at the incredibly gorgeous Polynesian Resort at the end of May. So excited!

6 weeks left

2010-03-23T14:58:00.006-04:00

Spring Break flew by and I want that time back! I had to be at work at 8 am which means when I had 2 days off, I couldn't sleep in past 730. Quite the break if you ask me.

One of my best guy friends, Mike, visited Foxwoods and stayed at the hotel where I work so we we able to get together towards the end of break which was awesome. We don't get together a lot outside of school so being able to see him near my hometown was wonderful!

With 6 weeks left, I'm going to be incredibly busy with group work, presentations, papers, reading and exams. Thank goodness I have Lost to keep me sane every Tuesday. Last night's episode was the best so far this season and one of the top episodes of the series. It was all about Richard Alpert who has been kind of a mystery character for the past couple seasons.

For once they actually explained quite a bit; Lost is notorious for leaving viewers hanging and incredibly confused but I finally feel that I'm getting some answers! On another note, I have to buy a new phone charger for my phone because the one I had snapped off inside my phone last night. I'm going to have to switch phones for a couple days before the charger comes in and I hate the other phone I have. Hopefully the shipping will be quick!

2010-03-04T14:06:00.001-05:00

80 days until graduation! :)

Yay!

2010-02-24T13:53:00.002-05:00

Thought it was time for a pretty, new layout!

Usually I'm all for Suffolk but I have to say, yesterday was the most boring day of classes EVER. Literally. I sat through 6 presentations between 3 classes and thought I would never make it home. I really wish professors chatted with each other (like teachers used to in high school) to make sure something like 6 presentations don't happen in 1 day; wishful thinking. While it was boring, it also meant that I didn't have to do any homework in preparation for that day.

I've also just planned an East-Over dinner for all the Ambassadors. Our Not Your Average Thanksgiving Dinner was such a success that Jack suggested I host an Easter/Passover Dinner, so I am! I love when all of us get together.

Short and sweet post today!

Oh boy!

2010-02-22T13:54:00.002-05:00

With my recent acceptance to Disney in August, I'm facing issues with my apartment and naturally since it's me, these issues are never simple. Basically, my lease runs until August 31st but I have to be out by July 31st since August is so busy I just can't come back to Boston to move out.

I have a couch I bought 2 years ago for the apartment and I feel bad telling my roommate "hey I need to move out so I'm taking the couch." I feel as though it isn't fair to make her, theoretically, sit on the floor to watch tv for the month of August. *sigh* What should I do? I'm open to suggestions. I really don't care about taking the couch with me and I'm not sure if my landlord will let us leave it in the apartment for the next tenants. Personally I like bringing my own furniture to an apartment, not have someone else's.

Other than that battle I need to fight, I've been super busy doing homework for all my classes. Between reading hundreds of pages a week for my Pirates and British Empire classes and preparing cases each week for Small Business Management and Strategic Management, my schedule is pretty full, not to mention I still have to travel to CT to work in the hotel there.

90 days to graduation! Not like I'm counting or anything...

Late but worth the wait!

2010-02-17T11:35:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I've blogged, but I've been so busy in the office I haven't had time! I'm 4 weeks into my last semester at Suffolk and I can hardly believe how fast the past 3.5 years have flown by!

I only have classes on Tuesday's and Thursday's this semester so it opens up my Monday's and Wednesday's to sleep in a bit and then head to the Admissions office to work and give tours. My semester so far has been pretty busy since I've already had 1 exam and 2 presentations! It's a pretty hectic semester but it helps the time go by.

I've also been pretty busy working on what I'll be doing after graduation. It's a pretty big decision and I decided to not go to grad school right away. Instead, I applied for a paid internship in Disney World and was accepted last night. I move down in August and I'm super excited about working in one of their fabulous hotels down there. The program runs until January, so prior to the program ending, I'll apply for a full time job there and then in September of 2011 I'll work on getting my Master's in Hospitality and Tourism. yay!

Not much else has really been going on which makes me feel like a super uncool college Senior but I have had some lovely dinner dates with Beckee and Meg and I'm sure there are plenty more events to come!

5 more days

2009-12-09T13:29:00.002-05:00

With 3 presentations out of the way, I am almost done with the semester. I have two papers due tomorrow, 1 final exam and 1 more short presentation and I will officially be done on Tuesday the 15th.

My really big presentation was interesting. The health center was completely unprepared for us because they didn't have a computer or projector ready so the first group had to present off their printed slides then had to stop and continue again once the projector was all set up. The CEO of the health center sat in on all the presentations and was not happy with what he was hearing. One of the managers filled out a survey incorrectly; a survey the health center came up with and as a result one group's presentation numbers were completely distorted.

After that I was busy writing a 2,000 word paper which I'm short by about 20 words so when I proof read it tonight I'll try to squeeze in those 20 words somewhere.

Enough talking about school though, I'm so tired of it! I'm completely ready to be done. Tomorrow is the Winter Ball! I'm heading over to Delia's apartment around 630 to get ready and then Meg will be joining us around 7 and we'll head off together for food, drinks, dancing and a wonderful time!

Friday I fully intend to stay in bed all day. Not even joking. I want to curl up in my pillows and blankets, sleep in late, watch movies and surf the web. No worries about eating though...my boyfriend will be in Boston to get me food for when I get hungry :) I do have to get out of bed around 330 though because there's an end of the semester Ambassador dinner from 4-6 which is always a good time!

Saturday I have to go back to CT for my grandfather's birthday dinner which I'm upset that I'm missing Haley and Rachel's Ugly Sweater Party and then I'll be back to Boston on Sunday for an exam Monday morning, Tuesday night and then I'll be in CT again on Thursday for winter break.

Amazing Weekend!

2009-11-23T13:25:00.005-05:00

This past weekend was a lot of fun! I've been a little sad lately because my boyfriend is in Texas for Thanksgiving with his family so communication with him has been lacking but Saturday night I invited all the Ambassadors to my apartment for a dressy dinner party.

Everyone was required to dress nice (no ratty jeans or t-shirts) and to bring something to eat. Naturally we took a ton of pictures so I'll share some:

All of the Ambassador girls (minus Allison, Beckee, Jaclyn who wasn't there yet and Julie who couldn't make it)

The dashing Ambassador boys (minus TJ who was in California)

All of the amazing people I work with :)

We had tons of good food: baked ziti, eggplant parm, garlic bread, sushi, salad, 2 types of cheesecake, a funfetti cake and assorted bakery items. It was an amazing time and we'll definitely all do it again soon! :)

Clean up the next day was not fun though! Luckily my friend Jack helped me wash 98% of the dishes that night so I didn't have much to wash but cleaning my floor literally took 2 hours...it was pretty gross!

Now I'm just getting ready to enjoy Thanksgiving break. With 1 more hectic day tomorrow from 10 am - 7 pm and 1 class on Wednesday I will be on my way back to CT to relax on Thanksgiving, work the rest of the weekend, then head back to Boston to work on group projects and papers. Is it December 15th yet? :)

Almost Done!

2009-11-19T14:10:00.004-05:00

The past couple weeks have been pretty busy for me. After my uneventful Halloween I've been busy with coming up with my schedule for my last semester at Suffolk. It's still so crazy to me every time I say or type that. My schedule looks pretty good with 4 classes on Tuesdays & Thursdays so that frees up Monday and Wednesday to work in the Admission Office to give tours!

I had a dry run presentation today for my Senior Capstone class. My Senior Capstone class is the one where it's a semester long group project about a community health center in South Boston. The dry run went okay but 2 of my group members were in charge of making pie graphs which didn't add up to 100% so that was not good but I probably should have caught that during our group meeting yesterday.

Other than that I am more than ready for Thanksgiving break. I'll be back in CT (and working) in less than a week and then it's back to school with presentations and papers. The first two week of December are going to be very busy for me with 3 presentations and a final paper. Yay senior year?

At least I have a month off from school so I can relax and earn some money to pay off my car (and trip to Disney!) and then it'll be back to school for my last semester!

Enjoy the new layout :)

Scary!

2009-10-28T13:21:00.001-04:00

I just signed up for Advising for my last semester here! Ahhhhh. Can't handle it.

Food and tour time with Delia :)

End of October

2009-10-27T14:59:00.003-04:00

I can't believe it's the end of October already; Friday is Halloween! How crazy is that?

I decided to change my blog so it's more festive :) The only problem is when I change the layout, I have to re-add all the extra stuff on my page (twitter link, ambassador blogs, what I'm excited about; it's kind of a pain but changing my layout is totally worth it).

Most of my friends and other Ambassadors have been running around and talking about how busy they are with papers, exams and projects but for some reason I am incredibly calm. My midterms weren't piled up into 1 week but instead they were spread out over 3 weeks so I had 1 per week. Granted I have my fair share of homework but I can't help feeling pleased with how calm my October has been.

I'm being a pretty lame college kid for Halloween this year because I don't have anything planned. My mom and stepdad are coming up for the day on Friday to visit and Adam will be spending the weekend so we'll probably watch some Halloween movies in my fall decorated apartment. I guess I'm just not that big into Halloween (a huge disappointment to my mother); it was great when I was a kid to dress up and go trick or treating and I went out Freshman and Sophomore years. Last year my mom had just gotten a puppy so I spent Halloween at home puppy sitting and handing out candy to trick or treaters so this year I feel like being lazy...I'm much more of a Christmas person.

I'll be heading off to my night class in about 20 minutes...here's hoping we get out a little early so I can get all my homework done...I would like it to be Friday please, thanks! :)

Oww

2009-10-21T13:33:00.002-04:00

So this has absolutely nothing to do with school but, as with any other kid my age, we usually all experience the lovely growth of wisdom teeth. I've had mine for a couple years and my bottom two have been half covered by my gums which has launched my dentist telling me I should have them removed despite having enough room for them and that they're coming in perfectly straight.

I woke up yesterday to my bottom left wisdom tooth pushing its way past my gums and it hurts. So I'm just complaining about it. Hopefully it will be all grown in tomorrow because I don't really appreciate this constant throbbing. Boo for wisdom teeth.

On the other hand, with my wisdom tooth pushing through, my dentist can lay off me about getting them out.

Craziness!

2009-10-19T13:31:00.005-04:00

The month of October has been incredibly crazy for me. The first weekend I went to a wedding for my boyfriend's sister so it was filled with sight-seeing in Boston since some of his immediate family flew up from Texas. The wedding and reception was held at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton. If you ever get the chance to go out there, I suggest you check out the museum; there were some really interesting exhibits (including one about shoes which, being female, I loved and a really neat structured space exhibit that hung from the ceiling that I have below) and admission is free on Wednesday nights from 5-9 pm.

Here's a picture of The Great Room where the reception was; they constantly change the art in the room so you never know what you're going to see and a picture of me and Adam on the patio where the wedding was...it's completely surrounded by water. We clean up pretty well huh? :)

The following weekend was my roommate's birthday so we hit the town (or city I should say) and celebrated her turning 22! The night successfully ended with ordering Domino's delivery at 1 am; I really love being a college student sometimes. I had Office Hours and an Information Session where I gave tours for a couple hours and my dad came up to visit for two nights, so you know he treated me really well and fed me tons of amazing Italian food!

This past weekend I went home to CT, worked in the hotel and hung out with my family and Adam. My mom made a mini Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and sent some food back up to Boston with me which I have already consumed for lunch! Thanks momma.

On a really exciting note, my boyfriend is pitching for a scout for the New York Mets on Thursday. I've gone to a couple of his pitching practices and as a female I couldn't tell you the difference between half the pitches but I was impressed. If I have the money, I'm going to watch him pitch Thursday because it's a big day for him and his family is in Texas so no one is there to see him.

Here's hoping for no rain or snow on Thursday!

Zipcar Anyone?

2009-10-06T13:40:00.002-04:00

Two fellow Ambassadors, Jack and Chris are both members of the Zipcar community and since Jack just spent the past 10 minutes explaining it to me, I just might have to join!

It's only $25 to join since I'm a college student versus a $50 fee and a $25 application fee (ick). Chris usually drives the BMW but there are tons of other cars to choose from like Mini Coopers, Scions, Toyotas etc.

I'm not too sure where I would drive a car to, but it could come in handy for shopping trips! It's certainly easier to throw stuff in a car than try to drag everything back on the T!

My mom and dad should watch out! You never know when I might randomly show up at home and say "what's for dinner?" :-) I could take a quick T ride as far down as Quincy Adams, pick up a car there and then drive to CT and back and I'd be within the 180 free miles included with the car! Hmmm...

Why am I still sick?

2009-09-28T13:35:00.003-04:00

I've finally gotten over my cold (yay!) but now it seems that I'm battling a stomach bug that seems to trigger around me sleeping which is really weird. Nothing can ever be simple with me.

Reading and homework is really starting to pile up and I'm not a fan. I think I have Senioritis already and I'm only through the first month of school. My History class demands a lot of reading which I'm resistant to doing because I'm not a History major; no excuse I know. I have a quiz Thursday so I know how I'll be spending my free time.

I really need to get most of my homework done tonight and tomorrow because I'm going to a wedding this weekend so we'll see how my time management skills work out...I'm going to say not well and move on.

My Human Resource Management class got cancelled tonight and I'm really excited about it because I truly dread my 9 hour Tuesdays. 10 more HRM classes but who's counting...right? :-)

Jack and I gave a lovely tour together today. It's nice to give a tour with another Ambassador because you sometimes get a completely different perspective; Jack has gone to our Madrid campus in Spain and is trilingual!

Back to work for another hour and then I get to go home!

3rd week back and I'm already sick.

2009-09-16T13:19:00.009-04:00

I'm back! Did you miss me? :) It's kinda crazy to think that I'm already in my 3rd week of classes for my Senior year; it blows my mind. What also blows my mind is how I'm sick already. Ugh. No worries though, it's just a cold and after 6 days, I'm finally starting to feel better.

My summer was fun even though I worked a lot. I turned 21 in July and my sister surprised me with an all expenses paid trip to Disney. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Disney but believe me when I say I didn't spend every waking moment hunting down Mickey and Cinderella. My sister and I spent a lot of time soaking up the sun at various pools around the Disney resort.

Chris, Meg and Allison came down to CT to celebrate my birthday with me which was awesome; they're such good friends to travel 2 hours down to see me. My parents got us a limo as we went out to dinner and drove around town. I later got into a frosting fight with my best friend (and boyfriend...the nerve he has!) and ended the night playing a few mean games of Twister.

Other than that, I worked a lot and now I'm happy as a clam back in Boston. I really hated being sick this past weekend because I missed out on two really good events: a fellow ambassador turned 21 on Friday so a whole bunch of people went out to celebrate and Saturday night most of the ambassadors got together. Sadly, I was in bed all day. Boo.

I'm pretty excited that I only have four classes this semester. I'm taking Management Information Systems, History of Italy (random, I know), Senior Capstone and Human Resource Management. I still have Friday's off and on Monday and Wednesday I only have 1 class which is fantastic.

Other than that I don't have much else to blog about so now I'm off to the next project I can find!

Final Week in Pictures

2009-04-27T15:34:00.003-04:00

I'm officially done with my Junior year and instead of blogging about it, I decided to share some pictures of what's been going on in my life the past week. Enjoy!

Happy summer everyone! See you when I'm a Senior! Ahhhh. :-)

Anddd done!

2009-04-23T13:41:00.002-04:00

Okay so I'm almost done. I have to sit through a guest speaker in my Empires & Globalization class and then I can say I'm done with classes for my Junior year.

I have 3.5 exams; the .5 being a 10 minute role play so I don't really count that as a final. Come to think of it, I don't really count my Business Law exam as a final either. It's only on 2 chapters and my professor said he's gone in an hour so that really isn't much of an exam.

This past week was Information Sessions here at Suffolk so I gave 4 wonderful tours this week. I'm giving a tour next Thursday at 3pm and that will be my last tour of the year! It's crazy how time flies. I'm not getting all sentimental here because I'm not a Senior, but sometimes the year went by too fast and other times it really just took waaaaay too long.

I'm really looking forward to the next few days though. Tonight is the Ambassador dinner, tomorrow is Spring Ball and Saturday we're having one last Ambassador get together.

Now it's time for me to head off to my last class of my Junior year! :-)

Love the weather!

2009-04-16T11:28:00.004-04:00

Two weeks ago I officially switched over to wearing flip flops and it has been fantastic. There were only two days that I wished I wasn't wearing them, but for the most part the weather has been sunny and warm; a perfect way to end April and my Junior year!

This past week wrapped up a lot of work I had including two exams and two group presentations. I only have one more group presentation in Empires & Globalization on concentration camps and that presentation is only 15-20 minutes so that should be really easy. I'm pretty stoked about having Monday off even though it's supposed to be rainy and only 45 out but it's supposed to be almost 70 on Friday!

My mom is coming up tomorrow and we're spending the night in the Millennium Bostonian hotel which is right across from the Hard Rock Cafe and Quincy Market; my mom loves shopping at the Coach store, so this hotel is a perfect location for her. I love when family comes to visit because I get completely spoiled. :-)

I bought my ticket for Spring Ball and I'm really exicted to go with a few other Ambassadors. I still need to buy a dress so maybe I'll look around this weekend with my mom and then go out and buy one with Allison next week since we made plans to go dress shopping together.

In 3 weeks I'm seeing Keith Urban in concert at Mohegan Sun and I can't wait! I saw him last year with Carrie Underwood and he was fantastic so I'm sure this show will be just as good.

I also jumped on the Twitter bandwagon so if you want to follow me, feel free! Obviously I update it more than my blog, and you'll read some random, current thoughts going through my head like why in the world a girl I saw yesterday would wear gray knee high socks and Uggs that only went up to her mid-calf leaving a solid 6 inches of sock showing. Oh the mysteries in this world. There's a link to my Twitter account on the right -->

1 Down, 4 to go

2009-04-07T11:48:00.003-04:00

I have so many projects going on right now, it's ridiculous! I can't remember Sophomore or Freshman year being this busy. I gave a 5 minute presentation based on a managerial interview I did a few weeks ago in my Interpersonal Effectiveness class today, and that went well. However, on the 14th my group has to teach class for 30 minutes on Creativity, and on the 15th I have an Operations Management 15 minute presentation. Not to mention I have a 15 minute History presentation either the 21st or 23rd (I'm sure I'll find out either today or Thursday), a 2000 word summary for History due before the end of the semester, and finals to worry about.

On a happier note, I worked the Business School Showcase on Sunday and it went really well. I spoke at two of the welcome sessions and I was able to hang out in the sun and point people in the right direction when they were lost.

Spring Ball is coming up on the 24th and I've been persuaded to go. I've been to a few of them over the past 3 years, and while I wasn't planning on going to this one, many of my friends asked me to go. Then on the 25th I've invited all the Ambassadors over to my apartment for one final get together before finals start and the summer arrives.

I'm really looking forward to summer. I have too many group projects/meetings/papers to complete and there are only 22 days until summerrr. On a side note, if you haven't been to Zappos.com, you really should. I ordered 2 dresses yesterday around 3 pm and they came in already, and the best part about it is the shipping was free! They have some great stuff and I can't wait to pick up my dresses, go back to my apartment and try them on!

I'm going home this weekend to work, spend time with my family and get a delicious meal on Easter (while wearing one of my new dresses). Have I mentioned how much I can't wait to see my puppy? I miss her tremendously. Now I'm off to give a tour!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

2009-03-30T14:45:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was round 1 of the Suffolk Showcase for admitted students in the College of Arts & Sciences. It was a gorgeous (or not so much) day out. Yay rain...right? I'm a veteran at these events, since this was my 3rd showcase, but waking up at 7 am on a rainy Sunday is not my idea of fun. There was a pretty good turn out, but by the time I gave a tour, I had 5 people with me instead of 50 people like some of the other tour guides had.

The Business School Showcase is next Sunday and I was asked to be one of the student speakers so I have to come up with something to talk about, but I've spoken at Showcase and Open House before so I'm sure I can come up with something. I'm really hoping it won't be raining next week.

I had a horrendous Finance Exam today. We're allowed to have a cheat sheet, but some of the questions were legit a paragraph in length and we had to sort through all the information to find what we needed. I don't think I did well which means my A average will cease to exist, but I have one more exam and a few homework assignments to boost my grade back up.

Other than that I'm counting down the days until summer vacation (30!) and I get to register for classes tomorrow (I'll be a senior...ahhh!). This last month is going to be extremely hectic but I'm looking forward to it because the more I have to do, the faster the time will fly! Speaking of which, today has flown by for me and I'm not really complaining. I'm looking forward to going home for Easter so I can see my puppy and sleep in and a 4 day weekend after that! Life is good :-)

5 Weeks Left!

2009-03-25T13:25:00.002-04:00

I have only 5 weeks left of my Junior year, scary! While some aspects of my last weeks here are calming down, other aspects are speeding up; I've significantly cut down on my hours here in the office which means I won't have to be here during finals week, but I have to be careful or I might be giving tours for free! I have 2 group projects coming up, neither of them have been started because 1. I need 2 more members for one group and 2. The second group project hasn't been discussed in class so no one has any idea what it's going to be on.

My History class was cancelled yesterday which was a wonderful surprise because my professor doesn't come off as the type of guy who would ever cancel class, but we still have a quiz tomorrow (bummer). I had two exams before Spring Break; Business Law and Operations Management. I got a 91 in Business Law and a 78 in Operations Management which I'm totally bummed about because I got a 94 on the first exam, but the class average was a 63 so maybe I should be pretty satisfied with my grade.

My spring break was pretty calm and laid back. I didn't go anywhere warm or tropical unfortunately, but I did work at the hotel in my town and made some money. I came back up to Boston for the weekend before classes started again and it was a wonderful idea because I had 3 days to relax and do nothing while most of the other people I know came back Sunday and were frantically running around trying to get ready for the next day.

I can't wait for summer! I have so many things planned and I am very excited! I'm going to Virginia Beach with a couple ambassadors, I'm having a weekend-long celebration with my closest friends for my birthday, a trip to Hampton Beach and many other 1 day adventures like Six Flags, beach trips etc. With the weather fluctuating as much as it has lately, I'm getting very sick of the cold and wind and I'm looking forward to warm and sunny days!

And on that note I'm going to file folders!

It's Been a While

2009-03-05T12:41:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since my last post and I feel bad about leaving such a gap between posting. Things in my life have been pretty crazy with papers, exams, work, oh and my laptop dying on me, that I haven't had a lot of time to blog.

Classes are the same as always but we're shifting into that time of the semester where group projects and studying for midterms are at the top of my To-Do List. I have two exams next Wednesay, Business Law and Operations Management. While I really like my professor for Business Law because he's kinda quirky and shares really amusing stories, his teachings don't coincide with the syllabus, so studying for his exam will be a blast.

My laptop died on me almost two weeks ago, and as a college student who is constantly glued to Facebook, I thought I would cease to exist without a constant connection to the internet. However, it was actually kind of nice to take a break from "who is dating who" and "what's the latest gossip". Facebook can get people into trouble and I was perfectly happy being ignorant of whatever was going on around me. But, my new laptop came in yesterday so now I have that constant connection to everyone's business, but I think I'll keep my distance.

We had a snowday Monday which was excellent! I have never had more than 2 days of classes cancelled here at Suffolk and the last time this happened was during finals week of Fall semester Sophomore year. I have mixed feelings about winter and the snow, but on Monday I decided to go out and walk around the city before the snow turned brown and gross. It was really pretty and mostly everyone looked miserable to be out, but I was thoroughly enjoying myself. Don't get me wrong though, I am ALL SET with the snow now. I'm ready for 50 degree weather, flip flops and skirts!

Oh a final note, I had some friends over a few weeks ago and I snapped a lovely picture of me, Allison and Chris (two other Ambassadors). Enjoy!

Yay Long Weekend!

2009-02-12T11:59:00.004-05:00

I'm officially done with the first 5 weeks of the semester. Yay! 1/3 of the way through and it hasn't been too difficult yet. I've only had two exams, a quiz and a 60-second speech in my classes so far. This week is even better because it is a long weekend; no classes on Monday and to top that off, my 10 am class on Tuesday and Thursday is going to be online next week so I don't have to get out of bed for them. Come to think of it, I don't even have to wake up at my usual time next Tuesday and Thursday because our classes online are going to be discussion based through various threads on our Blackboard system.

Blackboard is a really nifty tool most professors at Suffolk use. They can upload the syllabus, homework assignments, grades, post announcements and have discussion boards. It's a great tool and I don't feel enough of the professors utilize it to its full potential. Personally, I'm a fan of professors who upload our grades right to Blackboard, so with a few click of the mouse I can see exactly how I did; they can even leave feedback on uploaded assignments.

With my class next week, there is one main topic we have to post our reaction to, and over a three day period, we have to post two additional comments about other student's thoughts, opinions and reactions. This should be pretty simple and I can do it anytime starting Tuesday and ending midnight Thursday...I'm certainly not complaining about being able to sleep in everyday but Wednesday next week.

On another note, I can't believe how warm out it is lately. For February, 50 degrees is really enjoyable, especially when we don't have to bundle up in jackets, scarfs and gloves. The snow is melting away and I'm not really sad to see it go; I'm looking forward to the springtime.

I don't have any plans this year for Spring Break which is a bummer, so I think I'll head to CT and work. I believe, if I have been persuasive enough, I will be going to Disney in either May or June this year which I'm thrilled about!

I always had visions of going on crazy spring break trips in college, you know the ones we used to see on MTV 5-10 years ago in Cancun where everyone is going crazy. Yeah, not so much in this economy. While a part of me really wishes I could go somewhere tropical with a bunch of my closest friends, another part of me knows it really isn't realistic when everyone is strapped for cash these days. Hopefully I'll go somewhere for spring break next year so I can say I traveled somewhere two of the four years in college.

On that note, I'm kind of hungry so I think I'll venture out into the world and find something to eat!

Sooo...

2009-01-29T12:53:00.002-05:00

Government Center is a solid sheet of ice and I have to walk through it to get to class. I can't tell you how many times I almost fell walking through there today. I guess I'll take the T back to the North End again because I really don't want to relive that experience.

The snow yesterday was fine! Just the whole rain turning everything into ice is not something I enjoy.

Other than that, I gave a 60 second "elevator pitch" about myself today in my Interpersonal Effectiveness class and I think I did really well compared to everyone else who went up. I only said "um" once and I didn't even use a notecard. Gooo me! Everyone in the class was grading each other on different aspects such as eye contact, volume, how comfortable we were etc on a scale of 1-5. Then we had to give feedback as to what the speaker did well, and what they could have done to improve the speech. After I sat down someone asked the professor what they should do if they had no improvement feedback to give. Sounds like a good grade from that person at least!

And now on to filing and a class in 1.5 hours.

chris is better than haley

2009-01-28T15:08:00.002-05:00

So in case anyone was wondering about my title, a wonderful new Ambassador, Chris, typed it because I had a post earlier in the year titled "Haley is Amazing" and he felt he had to top that.

Moving on to more important things, Suffolk didn't cancel classes today which was a little upsetting when I got up this morning, but I'm okay with going to class because if we had today off we would have to make it up sometime later in the semester, most likely on a Friday, and you won't catch me on campus on a Friday unless I'm going to work.

3 weeks down this semester, and the classes simply aren't holding my attention. I tend to space out the most in the Empires & Globalization and Operations Management classes; it figures I would do that since both of those professors have heavy accents. I'm not a fan of my history professor's teaching style where he'll talk about the PowerPoint slides, and then post them after the class so you end up with descriptive notes like "on the slide with the red blob..." yeah, it's going to be great trying to decipher those out.

My puppy hit 5 months yesterday! She's so sweet and I miss her so much. I went home two weekends ago and completely surprised my mom when I walked in the house, but I really went home because I wanted to see my puppy! I tend to sit on the kitchen floor a lot because Ruby will wander off and sit in your lap; she actually fell asleep in my lap when I was home last. I'm curious to see what's going to happen when she is full grown and tries to sit in our lap. Talking about her makes me miss her so much more! Sad.

Other than spacing out in class, not much else has been going on. Chris and I are discussing what we're going to have for dinner, and just like I'm at a loss of what to eat, he suggested the same things I tend to eat. Back to the beginning. It's almost time for me to go home! I really just want to get home before the weather gets really bad. It's raining now which is a problem because all the roads and sidewalks are icy! Here's to hoping I make it home in one piece!

And we're back!

2009-01-15T12:44:00.002-05:00

The Spring 09 semester is now a week under way! If only I could say it was 10 weeks over with, but 9 weeks from now I will be able to say that. This semester is shaping up to be a challenge for me with 4 Management classes and 1 diversity requirement class.

Here's a look into my schedule if you're interested. On Monday's and Wednesday's I have 3 classes from 10-2:15; Business Law, Finance and Operations Management. Tuesday's and Thursday's I have Interpersonal Effectiveness and Empires & Globalization.

I'm anticipating a lot of reading for this semester, and issues with Finance and maybe Operations Management. When 3 of 5 professors have accents it's hard sometimes to really hear what they're saying and there are bound to be some issues.

My break was nice and relaxing. I was able to spend a lot of time with my puppy Ruby who is an absolute love! She's almost 5 months old now and I miss her tremendously! I make my mom take pictures of her and send them to me almost everyday. Unfortunately I didn't work much this break because with the current state of the economy, no one is really staying in hotels and spending money. I think out of 5 weeks I worked no more than 4 days at the hotel. Ugh.

Christmas was a lavish affair in terms of gifts. I got wonderful fleece sheets for my bed, a new iPod Touch, a red peacoat, the entire series (well the seasons I didn't have yet) of CSI Las Vegas and a whole bunch of other things like books, gift cards etc.

My best friend just moved down to Florida for school after two years at a local community college and a semester in South Africa, and I am extremely jealous of the warm weather she is enjoying. I want so badly to fly down and see her, but our spring breaks are a week apart, and it's a lot of money to fly down for 2 nights so I'll have to see what can be done.

Other than that there isn't much going on right now! I'll be sure to have some more interesting things as the semester progresses.

Last Blog of 2008!

2008-12-12T12:49:00.002-05:00

I've been done with exams since Monday, since I only had 1 at night, so I've been working in the Admissions Office all week. You may be wondering why I didn't just go home on Tuesday and I have a few reasons:
1. It's the first year I haven't had to leave the dorms after finals, so I wanted to enjoy the city a bit longer.
2. The hotel at home is really slow, so why go home and sit there when I can work here?
3. My roomie had a tough week of projects, so I stayed there to lend some emotional support (aka I baked cookies)

We have a lovely Christmas tree in the apartment that I brought from home. It's a fake tree and it took me about 2 hours to put together which I guess is good for an 8' tree that I've only dealt with once before. Our apartment is totally decked out for Christmas and I'm so excited about it! We even have fake snow sprinkled across our windowsills. :-)

Two of my grades have come in and they're looking good so far. I have an A in my Organizational Behavior class and a B in my International Management class. I'm worried about Macroeconomics because I'm positive I failed the exam. The professor told us it would be cumulative and it wasn't; it was all things we had done most recently, the hardest stuff, the stuff I could never quite grasp. Great.

Everyone else in the exam seemed to have a tough time as well. For a 1 hr 50 minute exam, no more than 6 people had finished after an hour and a half; the exam was 28 questions.

And on that sour note, I'm leaving the Admissions office to travel to CT for a birthday dinner for my grandfather tonight, getting a Christmas tree with the family tomorrow and I have to help my sister with a pageant Sunday. I'll be back to Boston on Monday to go back to work and tour it up!

Have a Happy Christmas everyone!
And a wonderful New Year!

Quick Update

2008-12-03T16:43:00.003-05:00

I blogged yesterday, but I have some news so I'm going to do a super quick blog.

1. I got my grade back for the presentation from International Management with the horrible group and we got an A. No idea how we pulled that off because I was definitely expecting a worse grade.

2. I get to take my Macro exam Monday night which is so much better for me! Although we found out we have to read a book in preparation for the essay questions on the exam and the Economics Department is going to throw on 25 questions to test us on just because they feel like it. Ridiculous. I'm not an Economics major but the Econ Department has made me so mad this semester!

3. What's all this stress people are talking about? One exam on Monday and I'm enjoying my Christmas break. I guess I'm lucky; I've defintely had bad years before with 5 exams so I'm just really enjoying this semester.

4. Now off to the Ambassador dinner I go!

It's been way too long!

2008-12-02T11:18:00.002-05:00

I feel bad I haven't posted in almost a month; I guess I was much busier than I thought. I'll try to do a quick recap of my life over the past month.

My group project for International Management (the bad one) is all over with and we did okay. One group member talked for 25 of the 45 minutes on her country which messed the rest of us up, I'm still angry about it to this day, and I admit, a little embarassed because our professor had to cut us short.

I had another mini presentation the week before Thanksgiving for my Organizational Behavior class and that went really well; we got a 96 so I really can't complain! I finished a 5 page paper for that class and handed it in on the 26th so I got an additional 5 points on it.

Thanksgiving was fantastic! I went to my grandparent's house for lunch and then I saw my dad for dinner and we had so much food left over that I'm still munching on some turkey from my dad's. :)

Tomorrow I'm done with classes for the semester. I have one exam tomorrow and how I do on that exam well determine whether or not I take the final because it's up to me. I'm a little frustrated that I'm done on December 3rd, and then I have to come all the way back to campus on the 11th to take a final for Macroeconomics. I really wish I could take it earlier but that's okay I suppose.

I can't believe this semester is over already! It flew by so quickly. I also can't believe that yesterday was 60 degrees! December 1st and I felt like I should be in Florida, it's crazy. My roommate and I have started to decorate our apartment with a christmas tree, candles in the windows with some fake snow sprinkled on the windowsills and snowflaks hanging from the doorways. I ordered plenty more decorations (because Christmas is my favorite holiday) and I can't wait for them to come in this week so I can finish decorating!

So now I'm just working in the office and I can hear some people listening to Christmas music which makes me happy :) We have an Ambassador dinner tomorrow night in the North End which I'm really excited about! Yay food! Speaking of which, I think it's almost lunch time for me!

Weekendddd!

2008-11-06T11:52:00.006-05:00

The past few days, and the next few days have been and are going to be very busy for me. To recap my last week, I went to the Coldplay concert with my roommate at the Garden on Wednesday. We were in section 3 and had a wonderful time! The performance was unlike anything I had ever seen before. There were amazing laser shows, these orb like objects that hung from the ceiling and played back the concert as though it was a music video. A fellow Ambassador, Lisa, was also at the concert and wrote up a great review of it. Check it out here. I really wasn't a fan of their opening act Duffy. I found her voice to be extremely annoying in concert and her dance moves needed much improvement from her step-touch and snapping of the fingers. Ick. Maybe I'm too critical, but I just was not a fan.

I went home the following night and spent the weekend at home working at the hotel and playing with my puppy Ruby. For Halloween I had to work for a while, but we were allowed to dress up so I was a Roman Goddess which is only fitting because I'm Italian, and the hotel I work at has an Italian inspired theme. After work I hung out at home with my mom like I usually do every Halloween because it's her favorite holiday.

Sunday I went to the Rascal Flatts concert at Mohegan Sun with my best friend Melissa. This was the 3rd or 4th time I've seen them and each time they have been amazing! Coldplay and Rascal Flatts are obviously extremely different with one being rock and the other country, but I could watch them both play for hours and never get bored.

On Monday I have a huge 45 minute presentation for International Management about Central and South Asia, and I feel prepared in what I have to talk about, but I'm truly concerned for the rest of my group. We're set to meet tomorrow in the library and go over everything. I really wish the presentation was done already, but the other members still haven't finished their slides. I'm extremely nervous about this presentation because I don't want to fail. I'm not nervous about speaking in front of the class, I'm just worried about my other group members.

I have Office Hours this Saturday and Tuesday (yay Verteran's Day and not having class). Next Saturday, the 15th, is Suffolk's Open House so all the Ambassador's will be together and working. I'm also hopefully having a few friends over that night to relax, watch a movie, order some food; basically just have a good time.

I also CANNOT wait for Christmas. It's really my favorite holiday and I love putting up Christmas lights and decorations! I'm going to go home tonight, pop in Love Actually (the most brilliant and funny Christmas themed love story on the planet) and wait for my PeaPod delivery. It's going to be a fabulous night!

Enjoy a few pictures from Coldplay and Rascal Flatts. I can't wait to see them come around again!

Just had to...

2008-10-28T12:11:00.003-04:00

Me and my new puppy Ruby.

I'll have an actual post later on, but I said I would upload some pictures of the little fluff ball.

Evening...commissioner

2008-10-21T11:55:00.002-04:00

So much has been going on lately and it's kinda ridiculous! Friday my roommate and I went shopping at the Cambridgeside Galleria Mall in Lechmere for cute dresses for her birthday party the following night. We went to Macy's because they always seem to have a good selection, and we ended up finding the same dress in two different colors that we decided on. While this may sound silly, we were the hostesses so it made sense to us. When we went to check out, her dress came up to $69. which was how much the dress was, but mine came to $4.30. Weird, right? We never got a solid explination as to why there was a $65 difference besides the dresses being two different colors. As a birthday gift, I bought the dress for her.

Saturday was my roommates birthday party, and a few of her friends from home came in early to help us get ready with snacks and decorations. Around 30 people showed up throughout the night so it was a great turnout! We had the game on which was a lot of fun because people get really into the game and start yelling and screaming at the tv.

Sunday was a really hectic day for me. I had two exams on Monday: Data and Decision Analysis and Macroeconomics. I also had an outline due for my International Management class so I spent all day Sunday studying for my two exams and writing up my section of the outline about Kazakhstan. Most people have heard of that country from the movie Borat, but that movie really has that entire country wrong. I never really found that movie funny, but so many people rave about it. I've watched it once and tried to a second time, neither time resulting in any more of a reaction than "What am I watching?"

I think I did pretty decent in my Data and Decision Analysis exam. I don't think I really struggled with many problems. The bonus question, worth 5 points, I didn't do because I forgot how to deseasonalize data which I need to know to do the rest of the problem. Bummer.

The other 3 members of my group didn't turn in their section of the outline. I don't even want to spend more time complaining about my group, but I emailed my professor early Monday morning expressing my concerns to her, and when she looked at our outline, she saw I had completed my country but my other teammates had not. Needless to say she was not pleased and let it be known to the other 3.

My macro exam only lasted about 40 minutes which I was surprised about because I flew through it. There was only one problem I wasn't confident on which was 16 points, but I did my best to do as much as I could so I'm hoping for partial credit.

It was a very typical, very stressful, very upsetting Monday. Thank goodness it's over! Next up for me is finishing that dreaded outline with my group, formulating a homework assignment for the presentation, reading 3 chapters for a quiz tomorrow, and writing a short 2 page paper. Lucky me.

On a side note, my grandparents are coming to visit on Saturday! yay! They finally get to see where I live. My roommate and I are also going home that night because my family got a new golden retreiver puppy and my mom and stepdad will be at a Halloween party, and my sister will be in Florida, so I volunteered to sit home with Ruby (that's the dog's name although I don't know how I feel about it yet). So I'm going to have a swinging good time Saturday night with my roommate, my best friend Melissa, her boyfriend, and my friend Matty (aka the love of my life haha). We're going to order some food, watch a movie and babysit. I'll definitely be posting pictures of the little fluff ball.

I Need a Nap

2008-10-10T11:50:00.005-04:00

I think I sat staring at the computer screen for a solid minute before I even began typing; yeah I'm that tired. I tend to wake up a lot during the night, last night especially. The walls in my apartment have proven to be impossible when it comes to putting tacks or nails in them, so instead all my stuff is being held up by those sticky squares that are supposed to be heavy duty...yeah not. At about 430 this morning I woke up because one of my picture collages fell down which of course resulted in a loud crash. Then at 815 someone below me was playing music and it was unusually loud outside; my life is not fair.

I have this huge 45 minute presentation due for one of my classes in less than a month, and my group is getting together for the first time today. One of the members can't meet, so it will be 3 of us, or maybe I should say just me because one girl is constantly on her phone, and one guy just doesn't say much of anything. I've never been the type of person to jump into being a group leader, but I guess I'll just have to be this time. We need a final outline done by the 20th, and I'm thinking about starting it before I head down to meet them just so I don't have to painfully sit there with them and end up doing it all myself anyway.

Has anyone else ever had this sort of situation before? Any help would be greatly appreciated! I already told my professor about my concerns weeks ago but she did nothing to help me. I never felt more frustrated than when we had to do a negotiation exercise and (with one missing group member) the other two left me hanging to do it all myself, and I wasn't sure if I was doing it right. Even when I tried to get them involved by turning to one of them and saying "why don't you take this?" they looked at me like I had 3 heads and never really did what I asked them to do.

Other than my deep concern for failing this presentation, things are going well. My roommate turned 21 two days ago, and I baked her cupcakes and decorated the apartment, and we're going to have a get-together next weekend with some of our close friends. I ordered groceries last night through PeaPod and I'll get those delivered tomorrow, so I'll finally have food to eat! yay!
It's also a long weekend which is exciting, but I still have homework to do and I have to work for Admissions on Monday giving tours, but there's a great group of us working together so it'll be a lot of fun.

My mom's coming to visit on Sunday, so that means free food and other various goodies! I'm seeing Coldplay with my roommate on the 29th, I think I'm going to Six Flags for free (thanks to my sister being a DJ and getting free tickets to basically everything) on November 1st for Freight Fest, and I'm seeing Rascal Flatts with my best friend Melissa on November 2nd, all the while working at the hotel in my hometown. It's going to be a lovely end of the month of October, and an even better start to November.

And on that note, I'm off to the Welcome Center to get something to drink, and to do some work up here in the office all the while pondering how to hang my stuff up in the apartment. Have a lovely long weekend and enjoy the gorgeous weather!

Late Night Lesson

2008-10-03T00:02:00.002-04:00

Some people say college is supposed to be the best time of your life. It's when you have amazing experiences, you live on your own, you travel, you know what it's like to truly be poor, and you meet the people that you'll be friends with for the rest of your life.

Now I agree with most of those things, but I don't necessarily agree with meeting my best friends in college. I have met some great people in high school that are still my best friends despite distance, not talking every day, and small arguments. I have also met some wonderful people in college who I know I'll be friends with forever.

However, sometimes there are people you meet who you instantly like. Usually you become friends with people because you find a bit of yourself in them; you two share common interests. This is natural for people and we do this without even realizing it. I'm the type of person who has never had a large group of friends in high school, or even now. I like a small, close group of friends maybe 10 or 12.

There have been a few people at Suffolk that I've had a hard time maintaining a friendship with for various reasons. I value the people in my life greatly, because I know we'll learn from each other and we'll share some amazing memories. But people are only human right? People make mistakes; talk to people they shouldn't, mention something they shouldn't, and suddenly the "friends" you've spent so much time with have abandoned you.

Since Suffolk is such a small community of students, basically everyone you meet is going to someone know someone else you know; it's kinda cool but sometimes it's not. It's cool because you both know the same person so you feel comfortable with each other and it breaks the ice, but it's also bad because if a friendship goes wrong on either end, you inevitably find yourself in the middle of an uncomfortable situation.

Recently I was in that exact situation. I was friends with two people who knew each other really well. One person I rather abruptly stopped talking to for whatever reason, and the other I was still friends with. On almost a daily basis I was confronted with issues about what was okay to say in front of the other, and for the most part I did fine. Only twice did I really mess up and the person I was friends with pulled away from me.

I value this person greatly. They have a great sense of humor and a very upbeat personality. We get along really well. But as I said, I'm only human and I opened my mouth one too many times. I just don't know what it's going to take for this person to be my friend again. I thought we always were; we would go out to dinner and we used to spend a lot of time together but not so much anymore.

The late night lesson here is no matter what you do and who you try to please, it'll never be enough because you'll always end up hurting the wrong person (in my case). I can't do anything to hurt the one who suddenly stopped talking to me because we don't talk and they don't care, but I constantly find I'm hurting the person that really matters to me, and that stinks. Maybe we'll completely stop being friends, but I hope not. I'm really a nice person and I don't intentionally hurt people...it's not in my personality description.

I really think I have a black cloud following me lately. Nothing is working out right or as I would like. Ughh is this just a bad dream? I don't think it is, and in that case...welcome to college life.

Holy End of September Batman

2008-09-30T11:09:00.002-04:00

It's kinda crazy that today is the last day of September. It really feels like I just moved into my apartment and just started classes. I've already had my fair share of quizzes and exams, most of them I've done relatively well in, but I still can't believe that tomorrow is October.

I can never decide what my favorite season is. I don't really think I like Spring because it rains a lot and the weather is always damp and chilly. I like summer because it's always sunny and warm and there's plenty of time to lay out on the beach and get a tan. For the longest time I always felt that summer was my favorite season, but now I think it's changing. I love living in New England and seeing the leaves change colors and being able to wear jeans and sweaters, and it finally becomes acceptable to order a tall (small) non-fat (milk) with whipped (cream) hot chocolate (yum) from Starbucks :)

So usually I'm really positive about all things Boston and Suffolk, but for once I might need to complain just a small bit. Through Suffolk we use this system called Blackboard where we can get our assignments, grades, e-mail address for the students in our class, basically all things good. However, it wasn't all that good for me last week. I had to submit a homework assignment online using Digital Dropbox. Apparently my professor never got it, and sadly we got into an argument over it because I did it on time and submitted it, but he didn't believe me; thank you former students for destroying all trust professors have in their students. Eventually the professor did believe me and my homework was accepted without penalty. Technology is supposed to make things better, but I really don't think it's been perfected yet.

On top of that, for the same class, we all have to purchase My EconLab, a supplemental program, for $50. We need this to take three departmental quizzes, and to submit one homework assignment. The problem is this supplement comes with a brand new Economics book, so if you bought the book used, like my class did, we don't have it, or if you bought the book new and used it for Micro and you are now taking Macro, you still have to buy the supplement. Why do authors of books insist on trying to take every dollar away from you?

Most college students have very little money, especially when we live in apartments and have so much to pay for, so asking us for another $50 just really isn't an option sometimes. It's frustrating. That's it in terms of my complaining. I guess if that's the worst experience I have, then I really have it pretty good.

On another note, I'm doing a breast cancer walk on October 5th with fellow ambassador Kayla and I'm pretty excited about it. I haven't done a walk in years and I feel kinda bad about it, so I figured I'd start now and I'll probably do one yearly. Almost time for my tour! Yayy!

Oh Boyyyy

2008-09-23T12:55:00.002-04:00

Things have been relatively quiet lately. Yesterday was officially the first day of fall which is exciting but sad at the same time. I love wearing flip flops, and when it starts to get really cold out, I can't wear them anymore. Technically I could still wear them, but I think my toes would freeze off. At the same time, I love fall because the trees look really pretty with red and yellow leaves. See exhibit A to the left which is a picture of the commons. This picture is actually hanging above me right now in the office and I think it's really pretty so I had to add it to my blog.

Anyway, I'm doing a Breast Cancer Walk on October 5th from 8-10 am. I'm trying to raise about $500 which may seem like a lot, but some people have raised much more. I'm doing it in honor of my grandmother who passed away over the weekend from cancer. I've never really gotten involved with cancer walks or any fundraising that is done, but I think I will now. It was really important to my grandmother, and I'd like to carry on her dedication.

I missed my classes on Monday and so I have to make up a quiz for one of my classes today at 3 pm. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to do it today because I didn't have any time to prepare for it. The quiz is on the chapters we've read out of the book, but honestly I haven't been keeping up on my reading, so the quiz today will be interesting. Good luck to me!

Being in Boston never cesases to amaze me. I on my way to my apartment last night around 7:30, and while I was walking through Government Center, I saw someone doing push-ups off to the side. They just dropped down on the brick and starting doing push-ups. It was really odd.

Haley is Amazing

2008-09-16T12:51:00.004-04:00

Another week has come and gone here on the Suffolk campus. I originally had registered for 5 classes this semester, but I ended up dropping a Sociology class. It's called Protest and Social Change, and I really thought it would be about well known social movements that have had a profound impact on society. I was expecting the civil rights movement and the right for women to vote, but sadly that was not what the class was about. Instead the class was about much smaller movements that I had never heard of, let alone familiar with. I felt as thought the work that was expected of us: from having to see a movie that was only being shown in one theather in Boston and having to purchase 6 books to dividing the class in half and each half read and discuss another book and write multiple papers, was a little too much for me to handle because this class isn't required for my major.

Don't get me wrong, I like challenges when I am in class. I don't mind being given a few papers to work on, having a group project and reading a book or two, but I feel that if I am going to do all this work, it should be for a class I have to take for my major, or as an elective that I am truly excited to take.

So for now, I am only taking 4 classes which is a little unfortunate because I'm afraid I might fall behind, but I could always take a summer course which isn't that bad. I have somehow ended up with about 4 extra credits from courses I have taken that were 4 credits each. In the Sawyer Business School (SBS), the classes are typically 3 credits, so any that I have taken that are 4 credits, I've ended up with an extra credit.

I am also hoping to get an extra credit or two for working in a hotel. I'm really interested in getting into Hospitality, and sadly Suffolk does not offer that major. However, I have heard that other students who have shown interest in Hospitality have taken up an internship and have gotten credits for it. I emailed a counselor in the SBS about potentially earning some credits, and I'm going to set up a meeting with him soon. I'm really lucky to be going to a small school where I have the opportunity to do an internship and get credits for something I really want to do that Suffolk doesn't offer.

I'm also really lucky to be in the Admission's Office right now because a fellow ambassador and a counselor are currently talking about what they order when they go to Wendy's and Taco Bell. Of course what they order varies depending on how hungry they are, what type of mood they're in...ha ha wow. Never a dull moment here in the office. Speaking of which, today is National Cheeseburger Day! We had a meeting today to go over information about the New England School of Art & Design (NESAD) and for lunch we had sandwiches and cheeseburgers...naturally.

If you're curious about my title,"Haley is Amazing", I was at a loss for what to title this blog, and so the wonderfully charming Haley blurted this out, so it has stuck! Anyway, I'm off to go do something fabulous with my life.

And We're Back!

2008-09-09T12:20:00.004-04:00

This past summer was pretty hectic. I worked about 40 hours a week and all the money I earned literally went to my new apartment! (I'll get to that in a minute). I did get to take a mini vacation to Hampton Beach in New Hampshire with my best friend for a weekend, went to Six Flags New England for my birthday, saw Batman: The Dark Knight four (4!) times, none of the times I paid might I add, and I saw the Backstreet Boys (don't laugh) in concert for free.

So now here I am, getting back into the swing of things. My roommate from last year and I have a new apartment in the North End that I absolutely love. We have a huge kitchen and living room, a roof deck, and laundry in the building, which is rather hard to find in apartments. Honestly, when I first came to Suffolk I was concerned about the housing issue. Not having dorms available for all students can seem like a major drawback, but it can really be viewed as a strength rather than a weakness. For example, my dad was getting me ready for the business world months ago by having me lay out how much it cost him to pay for me living in the dorm and a meal plan versus living off campus with other expenses such as cable, internet, groceries and rent.

Surprisingly, the totals were very similar. Granted buying furniture for a larger space pushed the cost up higher, but at the same time, I'll have this furniture for the two years in an apartment and who knows for how long afterwards. As I saw it, either I buy the furniture now, or two years from now when I move elsewhere. This is where all my money went this past summer. I refused to let my dad pay for anything furniture related in my new apartment. He's paying rent and tuition and that is more than I could ask for.

While I'm extremely fortunate to be living in an amazing apartment, I never realized how lucky I was to have lived in the dorms my first two years on campus. Not just because I've been supplied with basic furniture and someone to cook me food three meals a day, but because it made the adjustment of living in Boston much easier. I've grown into an even more sensible and smart adult that only Suffolk could have helped me become. I don't think that going to a "traditional" college campus could have done the same thing.

Two years from now when I graduate (yikes!) I will be entering a new world already knowing how to survive on my own, while all of my other friends will just be learning how to. I'm certainly not saying other colleges and universities do not teach fundamental skills on how to become a successful individual when you move out on your own, but Suffolk teaches these same skills without a classroom and a professor; that is something truly unique to Suffolk University.

I'm exhausted!

2008-04-22T16:07:00.003-04:00

I have three classes left this semester and I'm very excited for the year to be coming to an end. I'm not necessarily happy about leaving Boston for four months, but not having to do school work and being able to relax and enjoy the nice weather is something I am certainly looking forward to!

I have five finals next week, two on Monday, two on Wednesday and my last one on Thursday. My parents are coming up Thursday to help move me out which is always an interesting experience because you finally realize how much stuff you have. My parents always yell at me because I acquire a lot of random things during my year at school...like christmas lights that are still hung up around my room. But hey, I'm not the only one who collects random stuff!

Speaking of moving, my room at home is a complete disaster because I haven't cleaned that in forever, so moving back in is going to be a huge challenge. After I came home from Disney I threw all my clean clothes on my bed and they're still there. I should have cleaned it this past weekend when I was home, but I worked so much that I barely had time to sleep! So now, I'm completely exhausted and the result is me not feeling well today. I've never been one to function well when I'm tired.

Even though next week is finals, I still have tons of assignments to complete before I even think about studying. I have a computer assignment for Stats, and I have to finish a practice exam that we'll go over on Thursday. I also have a case due for Marketing which I have to email to my professor because we don't have class Thursday. I also just remembered I have Accounting homework due tomorrow. Ick!

Hopefully I'll be able to tackle all this work tonight and finish by a decent hour. So much for me thinking about going to the gym tonight!

All the Ambassadors are getting together for an end of the year dinner tomorrow in the Welcome Center which should be a really nice time; it's a rare occurance to have all of us together when we aren't working a showcase or open house. The last info sessions are going on this week, so this is going to be the last time I give a tour this year! Kind of crazy that this year really is done, but it's also very exciting.

9 days until I'm home for the summer!

It's Not Getting Any Easier

2008-04-07T16:24:00.003-04:00

I thought that the last four weeks of the semester wouldn't be too bad or stressful, but boy was I wrong! Suffolk had two accepted students events this past week and they were extremely hectic not only for the Admissions counselors, but also for the Ambassadors and work study students. Being up at 830 in the morning on the weekend is never pleasant, but having to do it twice?! Eww. (:

Both of the events went really well, and they both had an amazing turnout of students which is always a plus. I'm kind of glad to say that these events are done for a year until Open House in November. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like these events, but they are really long days.

Since both of these events are over, I now have more time to focus on all the rest of the work I have due in the next few weeks. I have an exam tomorrow that I haven't finished studying for. I started studying on Friday and I still have one more chapter to look over. I also have a paper due on Wednesday that I've completed writing but could certainly use some revisions which is what I'll be spending my night tomorrow working on.

I also have to do a short presentation on a poem I chose for my English Lit class. I have to talk a little about the author, since I'm the first person to present in that category, and I have to talk about what the poem means. Now I'm not very good at looking at all the symbols and metaphors in a poem and explaining to my class what this means. My professor I'm sure knows every poem she had us chose from by heart and if I get something wrong then that could be disastrous. I'm a Business Major! What do I know about English?

Happy April Fool's Day!

2008-04-01T15:50:00.002-04:00

It's finally April! yay! April means I only have about 4 weeks left of school, 3 and a half actually since I only have classes Monday-Thursday. I think nature pulled a bit of a joke on us today because it's really warm, about 60 degrees, but tomorrow it's going to be in the 40s again. Eww. I'm so ready for summer right now!

So, I was sitting in my English Lit class today at 10 am and I was looking at my syllabus for my Marketing class and all of a sudden it dawned on me that I had a Marketing Metric assignment due today and I hadn't done it. So, since we were only watching a movie in class, I left at 10:30 so I could rush back to my room to do the assignment. My professor usually goes over all the formulas we need for the assignment and simplifies them for us. I had missed one class last week because I wasn't feeling well and I didn't have the simplified formulas. I go online to Blackboard to download the assignment but it wasn't uploaded.

And then it dawned on me that since we lost a day of class last Tuesday that all the assignments were pushed back so I didn't have to leave my English class because I had no assignment due for Marketing.

Moral of the story is try not to miss any classes because it backfires sometimes.

5 Weeks Left!

2008-03-24T16:23:00.006-04:00

I had such a wonderful time in Disney! I decided to go on a character hunt and I left with 15 pictures. I know it sounds kinda childish, but I hadn't gotten my picture taken with characters since I was literally about 8 years old, so I thought it was about time. All the characters did some silly things in the pictures, and I can only imagine it's nice to not have to deal with small children sometimes.

The weather was gorgeous, in the high 80's the entire week, and coming back to low 40's was rather painful! I wore flip flops on my way home and when I got off the plane I was pretty cold even though I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. I've decided I want to look into doing an internship in Disney at some point over the next two years. They have amazing opportunities for college students, and I really want to go down there for a few weeks and start learning the ropes of such a gigantic company, specifically their hotels. I should also look into seeing if I do something like an internship down there, if it would transfer to Suffolk in terms of credits or if it would fulfill my internship requirement; that would be amazing!

But now, it's back to school and work as usual. 4 weeks until finals, and 5 weeks until I move home for the summer. It simply does not seem possible that my Sophomore year is rapidly coming to an end. Sometimes I just don't feel old enough to be in college, let alone old enough to be halfway through my college years! I'm just going to keep plugging along and enjoying everything that comes my way.

And on that note, it's time for me to head off and do some work for my counselor who I haven't seen in a solid week; I'm sure I have lots of work to go back to. Yay!

I'm Still Counting Down...

2008-03-12T15:00:00.002-04:00

Not a whole lot has happened since my last post, just the typical work and school business. My dad came up to visit last weekend and it was really nice to see him. Unfortunately Saturday's weather wasn't very cooperative since it was cold, windy and rainy. My dad, my roommate and I ventured off to Beacon Hill to look at an apartment but it wasn't anything spectacular. I've actually been extremely disappointed in the apartments I've seen so far. Either they're incredibly small, they're too far from campus, or the price is too ridiculous for what's being offered.

That's kind of a big drawback for living in the city for school; lack of dorms. I really hope someday Suffolk will have enough housing for everyone, but it may certainly be a long time before that happens.

Have I mentioned lately I'll be in Florida on Saturday? I'm very excited.

I got my second Accounting exam back today and it wasn't a complete disaster. I got an 83 which is okay, considering I struggle tremendously with that class. I overheard another student saying she got a 36 on the exam, so as bad as this may sound, I'm very happy with the grade I got. And yay for academic advising today. I've learned I've acquired some extra credits from various courses that are 4 credits, even though I'm in the Sawyer School and the courses are 3 credits, but I'm not complaining. The more extra credits I acquire, the fewer extra classes I'll have to take.

I've also been told I have to sign up for an academic planning session which is an hour long and I get the next two years of my life planned out for me. I have to do that before I move home in May, so I should probably make an appointment to get that done.

Some of the lovely work studies here are busily working on sending out information to accepted students, and everywhere I turn there are people stuffing envelopes, and I'll probably join them soon to keep busy for the next two and a half hours.

Yay it's March!

2008-03-03T16:05:00.002-05:00

I'm really glad it's March because that means the weather is going to start getting warm again and I love warm weather! This week is an extremely hectic week for me. I have 3 exams in Marketing, English and Accounting and even though I literally spent every waking moment of my weekend devoted to understanding the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales and knowing definitions of Quantitative and Qualitative data, I just really want it to be Thursday so I can breathe a sigh of relief and know that it's all over.

I already know my Accouting exam is a lost cause, but we are allowed a 3x5 index card filled on both sides with helpful equations so I think I will be able to figure more problems out on this exam instead of just aimlessly guessing and getting 0 points instead of a possible 5 or 6 out of 10. This is me being optomistic, regardless of my mother saying an index card won't help because I just don't understand the subject...I'll take what I can get.

On another note, I was able to experience a great little pub in Boston on Friday with Whitney. It's called Seven's, approproiately named because of its location on 77 Charles St. Another ambassador, Kevin, works there and so we were able to hang out and relax for a few hours all the while having an impromptu Ambassador get together. I'm sure Whitney and I will go back again; it had a great atmosphere and everyone there was really nice.

Well, it's almost that time for me to head out of the office and become a slave to my homework again. Or go to CVS...probably both because I'm out of bowls for my cereal and the cafeteria doesn't stock bowls which is extremely frustrating.

Two and a half weeks left!

2008-02-27T14:21:00.002-05:00

Today is the official mark of being halfway through the Spring 08 semester, and I must say it feels pretty good. But, at the same time there's sooo much work that I need to get done for this week, it's pretty crazy. I have a Marketing case due tomorrow and I have an exam in that class on Tuesday. I also have to recite the first 18 lines of The Canterbury Tales for my English class tomorrow too. Surprisingly, it's a lot harder to memorize and recite those lines than I thought. I still have four lines to memorize by 11 am tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.

It's starting to get a little warmer up here and there isn't much snow left on the ground which makes me extremely happy. I'm not a big fan of the winter, I like spring and summer more and I'm counting down the days to May 1st when I can move home again. Speaking of warm weather, I will be in Orlando in 17 days! I started the count down around 140 days, so I am so excited! I have a reason to keep going every day haha.

The Ambassadors are having a get together on Friday and it should be a really good time. We don't all get to see each other while we're in the office, so it's nice to see eachother outside work and be able to relax and have a good time together. Yay for good food and good company on Friday!

I knew it.

2008-02-12T16:26:00.000-05:00

I'm not really sure where I should start this post, but I suppose I can start it off with some bad news, because things get better after that. I had my first Accounting exam last week and I thought I did okay on it, and by okay I mean I knew I got a few multiple choice questions wrong and I knew I had completely blown one 10 point question because I had no idea how to do it.

So then it came back and a big fat 76 out of 120 (or a 63) was staring at me. I hate doing poorly on my exams, it's the worst feeling in the world. So now that my first exam is over I definitely know I need to work harder next time and I need to turn in all my homework and show up to every class and get some extra help, which I fully plan to use the Ballotti Learning Center since it's a free service and someone can tutor me who has had my professor before.

On to happier news!
I got a 95 on a Marketing Case about Facebook, so I'm certainly doing fine in Marketing, and I had an exam in that class today too and I feel pretty confident about it.

Other than school work, I'm working on fighting off a cold. First it was a sore throat, then a cough, and now I have a pretty nasty headache all the time and aspirin doesn't help at all. Blahh. This is week two of this cold and I want it to go away nowwww. My sister told me I need to get better before Disney, which I plan to be all healed in 32 days.

The weather is still cold and snowy up here but it isn't sticking to the ground which I guess is okay. My mom is coming up this weekend and her, my roommate and I are going to start looking at apartments for next semester, since you have to move off campus when you're a junior. It's a minor drawback of being in the city but my roomie and I couldn't be more excited about having our own place either in Beacon Hill or the North End.

3 down, 12 to go!

2008-02-05T16:15:00.000-05:00

Three weeks down so far this semester and we have 12 more. I have to say 12 weeks sounds like a really long way from now, but it really isn't. It's only 3 months and one week of that will be Spring break, and the last week is Finals so we really only have 10 weeks of classes left! And since my classes are twice a week, that turns out to be about 20 classes left. I'm really trying to be optimistic here but sometimes I really just don't feel like going to class, like today.

Today was raining, cold and just not pleasant. Of course I didn't grab my umbrella, wear a jacket with a hood, or wear a hat today so I got kinda wet walking back and forth to class. Note to self: when it says it's raining on Yahoo Weather, that usually means it is and to plan accordingly.

Classes are going okay so far. I do think I'll have a problem in Accounting though because we just don't get along. I have an exam there tomorrow and if we dress up in business attire, we get an additional 10 "class participation" points. Skirt and heels here I come! I'm going to need to get some help for that class. I generally understand everything in theory, but sometimes I just get really lost...that or it is always 80 degrees in that class room and trying to pay attention is extremely difficult.

On another note, the Patriots lost the Superbowl and I'm pretty upset about that. I was really hoping they would have a perfect season but it happens, and there is always next year...right?! :-)

I have so much to do and just not enough time! And on top of that I'm just tired all the time. I literally want to sleep all day and all night which can't be a good sign. Today I feel a little better but I could definitely take a nap right now and I wouldn't have a problem with it!

Lastly, the Spice Girls were AMAZING on Wednesday night! I'll have to edit this post later today with a picture or two from the concert because they aren't on this computer. Then, I went home to see Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood who were also just as fantastic. At one point during the show, Keith Urban got off stage, and walked into a lower section of seating and sang in the middle of a bunch of fans. I was extremely jealous. Then, he proceeded to take out a silver sharpie, sign his name on the guitar he was playing, unplugged it, and handed it to a fan. I really need to be more lucky because I would give an arm or a leg to have that happen to me, let alone meet someone famous...legitimately would give a limb.

Second week down!

2008-01-23T16:17:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow marks the end of my second week of classes for the Spring '08 semester and I have quite a few things to look forward to this semester so I really wouldn't mind the time passing a little faster; the first few days/weeks always seem to drag on for some reason.

I had the unfortuante encounter of being asked to recap a reading assignment in my Business Ethics class today, and for the first time ever, I hadn't read the story so I obviously couldn't do it. Of course I read all the other assignments and had taken notes on that, but the one thing I didn't read was the one thing my teacher decided to call on me for...figures.

I have the feeling that no matter how much homework I do, I won't be able to be ahead in any of my classes. I'm constantly frustrated because I don't have PowerPoint on my laptop, why I didn't get it when I got my laptop I don't know, and all the computers in the lab in Somerset mysteriously don't have PowerPoint anymore so I can't look at the slides for my classes and I can't print them out. Maybe I'm just lazy because I could go to the library but that would require borrowing a laptop, finding a place to sit, waiting for it to load...excuses, excuses, I know, but I don't want to go anywhere in the cold!

Speaking of the cold, the weather lately has fluctuated so much it's ridiculous! Two weeks ago it was in the 50's and now it's in the 20's. People say global warming is a huge issue, but on cold, gray days I tend to disagree.

Exaclty one week from now my sister and I will be seeing the Spice Girls at the Garden! I've never been so excited about anything before. This is just one of the reasons why I love Boston: They get great performances that the lovely state of CT does not have. Then, on Thursday my friend and I are going to see Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood at Mohegan Sun. I'm quite the spoiled child, but I did buy the Spice Girls tickets.

Lastly, I'm looking forward to Disney in March! Less than 2 months from now I will be in 75 degree weather in shorts and tank tops, swimming in a pool, and having the time of my life! And this is what I think about everyday when I go to class, take exams and do essays. 52 days and counting!

What a break!

2008-01-15T16:23:00.001-05:00

Winter break is over for us Suffolk students and I had a great time at home. I worked a lot to save money for Disney and I got to catch up with all of my friends from high school who I haven't seen in a while. But I have to say I certainly did miss Boston, not just because of the fact that I didn't have to pay for gas for my car, or because everything is in walking distance (including Starbucks where I have acquired about 4 giftcards from Christmas) but because Boston got a lot more snow than CT did and the city is really pretty during the winter...cold but pretty.

The Spring semester started off rather nicely with the first day of classes being cancelled to the snow. My roommate and I weren't too happy when we got phone calls at 4:30 in the morning to tell us that the University was closed. I suppose it didn't matter since we went right back to sleep for a few hours afterwards.

So today my spring semester has officially started. I had three classes today: English Literature, Marketing and Statistics. The professors were all extremely nice, but the workload this semester is going to be hectic. I also have Accounting and Business Ethics tomorrow, so my work load is only going to increase.

Finally done!

2007-12-15T21:04:00.000-05:00

The last week of the semester was certainly a long one! On Monday I had my Info Tech and my Presentation Skills exams, and they were my two easiest exams which I was glad to get them out of the way first because I didn't stress over them. I had Tuesday completely off from exams which was wonderful because I was able to study for my Accounting exam, even though it was open book, and for my Economics exam.

Wednesday was my dreaded Accounting exam. Accounting and I never got along much but I actually think I did really well on the exam, but probably because it was open book. Afterwards my dad came up because I was supposed to move out of the dorm to home on Thursday, so we took care of some Christmas shopping and had dinner together.

I also watched the season finale of America's Next Top Model that night and was thrilled when Saleisha won. I had this feeling that she would win since the first episode.

My week got a little bit longer on Thursday when I got a call from the school saying all classes, exams and other activities had been canceled due to the snow storm (although it wasn't even snowing when I got the message). I was furious to say the least. I was completely packed and so ready to be going home but honestly, I'm really happy that my exam was pushed back a day because the roads were horrible and it took my poor dad 12 hours to drive home when it should have taken 2. If I had my exam, my dad and I wouldn't have left Boston until well after 3 and
the roads would have been much worse and probably would have taken longer to get home.

I have no real plans for the break besides relaxing, working and seeing some of my friends from home. I'm so glad the semester is over but I suppose it never really ends because I have another one starting in a month.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

One week left!

2007-12-04T15:59:00.001-05:00

I'm so relieved to say I'm in the middle of my last week of classes for the Fall Semester. I gave my last speech in my Presentation Skills class last night on chocolate and the health benefits it gives us; the topic seemed to go over pretty well, most people do like chocolate. I also finished up a group project this past weekend that was turned in today, so those are two big sighs of relief for the end of the semester.

Boston has been getting decorated for Christmas for about two weeks now, and the city looks amazing! There was a Christmas tree lighting ceremony last week that unfortunately I couldn't make it to, but I passed by the tree last night and it makes me really excited for Christmas.

It's also been snowing for about 3 days straight up here which I'm actually wicked happy about. I miss waking up on Christmas morning to a foot of snow on the ground, so seeing it snow for the past 3 days has been amazing!

As far as Christmas shopping goes, I have gotten nothing done except for one gift. I bought my sister two tickets to see the Spice Girls as her Christmas gift, but obviously she has to bring me. I told her about it; I really couldn't keep something like this from her for the next 21 days.

Last week all the Amabssadors went out to dinner in the North End for our end of the semester dinner. We had so much food, I don't think I had ever eaten so much in my life. We had calamari, garlic bread, and mozzarella sticks for appetizers along with complimentary bread. I got chicken and brocolli alfredo and it was delicious! Everyone's meal was enormous and I don't think anyone came close to finishing it. I still have leftovers but I think they're going bad so I should probably throw them away soon.

The Winter Ball is on Friday at the Seaport Hotel and my roommate and I are going with a few of the Ambassadors! I bought my dress the other night and I'm lucky that my mom shipped me my shoes to go with it! I'll be sure to take tons of pictures to post them on my next blog post.

Thanksgiving and such.

2007-11-27T16:19:00.001-05:00

It's been a while since my last post, but at least this time I will have plenty to talk about!

My RCC event was a success, everyone came down and decorated cupcakes. We had about 100 that were gone in 20 minutes. Fortunately I was able to snag two before everyone else grabbed them and I decorated one for my roommate since she wasn't around to join in on the festivities. Kevin Thompson, the advisor for RCC and the Assistant Resident Director in the Miller Hall dorm took a few pictures, I'll see if I can get those from him and post them up.

Open House went really well but it was certainly a hectic day. All of the speeches were fantastic during the three openings that we had. All the Ambassadors did a little bit of everything from setting up and decorating the Ridgeway Gym to directing families to Donahue and giving tours. Most of us only gave one tour throughout the day, and my tour had about 50 or so people on it, it was a lot of fun! Fitting into 3 elevators was also a challenge but everyone was wicked nice so it worked out.

After Open House I spent some time with my dad and we went out to dinner and did some shopping but I have tons more Christmas shopping to do before I move home for the winter break.

I went home for Thanksgiving and I didn't think it was possible to be so excited about food, but I definitely was. I worked every day, at the hotel in my town, except for Thanksgiving so unfortunately, I never had the chance to sleep in past 8, but I did make some more money for Disney and Christmas presents so it was worth it.

So now that I'm back, it's time to get back into gear for the last two weeks of the semester. I had to give a presentation in my Entrepreneurship class on Monday about a business a team member and I had interviewed. I have a few more smaller projects popping up here and there before the semester ends, but my main concern right now is trying to do well on my finals...Accounting is not a good friend of mine.

And on a side note, I decorated my dorm room for Christmas with some colored lights and snowflakes. It looks lovely when the flourescent lights are off and just the christmas lights are on :)

I'm a little sad...

2007-11-14T16:09:00.000-05:00

Things have been going great for me lately! I was able to get all the classes I wanted, which means no Friday classes again! And I finally get to sleep in on Monday's which is lovely because who doesn't like to sleep in late on Monday mornings? I'm spoiled...

I have an RCC event coming up on Monday that I am excited about. I haven't yet hung up signs for it but I'll work on that tonight and hopefully have them hung up by Friday.

All the Ambassadors got together for a dinner party Sunday night and it was a really good time. Our wonderful hostess, Lauren, made some fantastic food such as mozzarella sticks, baked ziti, and chile. Zack, Whitney, and I engaged ourselves in a Guess Who tournament, and then Zack and I decided to play Clue which was one of my favorite games from when I was a child. It was really nice to be able to see everyone outside the office in a relaxed environment, and I would definitely get together with them another time soon!

Most of the ambassadors are participating in College Week Live, where we enter a chat room and answer questions interested students may have about Suffolk. Unfortunately, while I have been in the chat, there haven't been too many students, but other ambassadors have told me they have had more luck later during the day.

So now I'm going to talk about why my blog title says I'm a little sad. When I was younger, my dad used to take me to a place called Mystic Carousel and Fun Center. They had tons of arcade games, and to me it was heaven to save up my tickets for those big prizes they used to have. I hold so many memories of that place through all the times it had changed around, and through all the people I know who used to work there. A laser tag facility moved into a section of that location, when the arcade downsized, and I worked for that company for about 2 years. Our location in Mystic was the best one, and the staff was even better. We moved out of the building because it was getting old, and we were told it would be knocked down to become a hotel; that was over a year ago. My sister sent me a text message today and told me they had finally knocked the building down. I'm heartbroken.

On another note, Open House is Saturday which should be a huge success. Drew and I have been asked to speak at the event and I am pretty excited about it, but I'm not excited about having to be at work at 8 am. My dad is also coming up this weekend! I haven't seen him in a while, I miss him!

Oh work!

2007-11-07T11:28:00.000-05:00

After my last blog I decided to redesign my layout and I rather like it! Unfortunately, the entire fall picture doesn't show up on all computers, but regardeless it still looks nice!

I'm registering for classes tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning which is kind of rough considering I don't have to wake up until about 9:15 for class but I'm glad I get to register early so I have a better chance of getting the classes I want.

I've been bringing prospective students with me to a few of my classes lately and it's great that there is a lot of interest in doing this...you only hear so much from the tours but sitting in on a class is how you really get the feeling for what going to Suffolk would be like.

I've also been working on planning some events for Resident Community Council (RCC), and we're having one on Monday, the 19th. The theme is RCC's Thanksgiving sendoff where students can come to the main lobby of the Miller Hall dorm and decorate cupcakes, drink cider, play some games and go home with some fun little souvenirs. Although, I will admit I'm hoping this event will draw some attention to the club and help attract dedicated members because there's a shortage of them.

Other than that, life has been rather busy lately with tons of homework and working in the Admissions office. I have quite a few projects and tests coming up which I am not looking forward to (who does?) but I am looking forward to seeing my friend Laura on Friday who I haven't seen since the summer. My mom is coming up to visit on Saturday which means free lunch and some shopping, and there is an Ambassador dinner on Sunday.

I'm also really excited that America's Next Top Model is on tonight, but I'm also sad that Lost's new season isn't going to start until February! I'm not going to have any shows to watch when ANTM ends and before Lost starts. It's a tragedy.

Last, but certainly not least, I am going to DISNEY WORLD during my Spring Break in March. My sister and I are going to be spending 5 wonderful nights at the Polynesian Resort and I'm booking the plane tickets tomorrow for it. I just went in May, and I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford another trip in March.

oh yes, I will be there in March!

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T21:04:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween everyone!

After my post yesterday a few of the Ambassadors and I went to a fundraiser put on by a group on campus called Up 'Til Dawn. This group primarily works with St. Jude's Children's Hospital and the fundraiser was a way to inform more individuals about the hospital, and the St. Jude's fund.

When we got to the fundraiser, we had to sign in, obtain pre-written letters, and then we had to mail them out to people we knew. Up 'Til Dawn had some great prizes available including a new iPod touch, which you had to send 50+ letters to be in the running to win, a Bruins package, gift certificates and more. Unfortunately, my plans to go to this event were extremely last minute so I only sent out 8 letters to my family.

There was a dj, and tons of pizza, salad and cookies for us hungry college student to chow down on, so not only did I feel good about trying to help out a fantastic fund, but I also got fed and didn't have to spend any of my own money, so I'm not complaining!

Tomorrow I have a meeting for Resident Community Council which I'm pretty excited about because we get to move on with planning some events for the rest of the year; I'll be sure to keep you updated on what great things are in store!

I'm also planning on changing my layout in the next few days...some of the ambassadors think it's too depressing, but it is Halloween after all!

Red Sox Parade!

2007-10-30T15:40:00.000-04:00

So the Red Sox have won the World Series again and it is amazing to be in Boston while they are champions. When I came on my tour to Suffolk, there was a picture in the view book of the parade from 2004 and I remember thinking I would love to witness the parade again while I was in school. Well, my wish has come true!

As expected, there weren't too many students in class today because everyone was starting to stand in line to see the parade. My roommate and I walked down the hill and joined the growing crowd on the corner of Beacon and Tremont. The parade started at 12 noon at Fenway, and since we were towards the end of the parade route, the duck boats reached us around 1:15 or so.

It was unbelievable to see so many people lined up on the streets of Boston to support the team. After the parade was over, my roommate and I tried to make our way to City Hall to see if we could get any closer to the players, but with thousands of people around, it simply didn't happen. However, I was able to take some pretty good pictures of the players, so enjoy!

Me!

2007-10-25T17:20:00.000-04:00

I never really wrote a post about me, my classes, my activities, or my life in general and a few of the other Ambassadors did, so I figured why not?

I'm a Sophomore this year and I'm extremely fortunate to be living in the dorms again. My roommate is one of my good friends and we get along great! We've re-arranged the room twice since we've been here, and I'm sure we'll do it a few more times throughout the year.

I'm taking 5 classes this semester, and although I wish I could be taking a dance class too, it wouldn't fit into my schedule. Luckily though, I have no classes on Friday so I can always go home on a Thursday night and enjoy a long weekend at home, which is actually what I will be doing later tonight. Which reminds me, I need to begin packing!

I was recently named President of Resident Community Council, which is a club on campus. I'm extremely excited about it. I've already researched and planned out some great events for this coming up year.

I really like to keep busy...if I'm not then I just end up sitting on Facebook for hours at a time and that really isn't healthy.

When I'm at home (in Connecticut) I work at a hotel in my town and I absolutely love it. I love the people I work with, and I like being able to talk to all the guests that come in, and sometimes play jokes on them (like telling them I just finished painting the lobby, or 10% of their winnings at Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun must come to me). I truly think I want to manage a hotel someday, or work in Disney World.

I also entered a pageant in my home town over the summer and won which is fun because I get to do community service, participate in parades, and I got free entry to tons of other fairs in the state of CT, although I couldn't always go to them. My sister also competed in Miss Connecticut this past year, so having two title holders in the family certainly keeps my family busy!

And just for fun, I'm going to add a picture of me with some of my new friends from the summer!

Suffolk's Salem Trip

2007-10-21T18:30:00.000-04:00

On Friday, October 19th, Program Council sponsored a trip to Salem, Ma. I had never been before, although my mom always wanted to go when I was younger, so I decided what better time to go than now?

The tickets were only $15 and included admission to two Haunted Houses, the Wax Museum, and a Candlelit Walking Tour.

To be honest, I was disappointed with the signs that accompanied the wax figures in the museum because I came across a few spelling errors. For example Bridget Bishop was spelt Bsihop. I certainly would have thought that someone would have done some spell checking before posting the signs, but we're only human.

My favorite part about Salem was definitely the candlelit walking tour that we took through the town. We stopped at various locations such as a graveyard, the old police barracks (which is now a home), and a restaurant. Apparently people have claimed to have seen ghosts wandering about the streets and between windows in homes, but I was pretty satisfied with not having encountered any ghosts.

All in all, the night was a lot of fun, thanks Program Council! :)

Here We Go!

2007-10-16T21:44:00.000-04:00

We've started this nifty blog project and I'm pretty excited about it. I decided to customize my background for Halloween...it's one of my favorite holidays.

Today was kind of a busy day for me. I had an exam in Microeconomics and I feel I did okay on it. Then I had two more classes which is pretty typical for my Tuesday's and Thursday's.

Went to work at 4 and started working on my blog! It's going to be pretty awesome when I change it up all the time, I'll always keep you guys guessing!