Hawk Talk - Sam

First of all, I just want to say WOOOOOOOOOO! Happy SUMMER! School's out finally! Hope everyone had a great semester. I know I did.

Move out was so sad. I'm going to miss my floor so much. My residents were so awesome they bought me a notebook and wrote me a wicked sweet note and signed it. I'm really going to miss those girls like crazy. It was such a great year.

I'm also going to miss my fellow RA's. After the past 9 months, I feel like we've grown to a whole different type of family. I definitely made friends in them that will last a lifetime.

Then today was our Orientation Retreat. WOOHOO O2K8! If you're an incoming student or parent, you're going to have quite the experience. I have never seen 40 more committed and excited individuals. You're going to have the greatest orientation ever. We had so much fun and got the whole synopsis of orientation 2008.

Well, I know this is short, but short is sometimes sweet. Especially after you've been cramming, studying and stressing over finals.

Have a good one!

Sam :)

Hope everything is going well, and your allergies aren't too bad. Have you seen the pollen today? It looks like snow! It's crazy. My allergies are NOT very happy. 

Well as finals progress, move out is quickly approaching. It is so sad. Move out is one of the worst parts about college. Your friends and roommates become another family. You talk all the time, you eat your meals together, you watch movies, sleep in the same room.. basically you're inseparable. It is sad to say goodbye, and head home, but the time comes where you have to.

Here are some tips to coping with moving home and making the transition easy.

For students:

1. Take a deep breath. You're going to get to see friends from home and catch up with them. You won't spend the summer alone.

2. Keep in touch with your friends and roommates. Facebook and AIM are great for this!

3. Make a date! Pick a weekend in the middle of the summer to hang out with your roommate and friends that don't live very close. It'll be fun and it'll give you something to look forward to!

4. Be patient with your parents & guardians. They love you, and missed you while you were at college, but they are still going to set some rules for home.

For parents & guardians:

1. Take a deep breath. We know you missed us, but we're going to be overwhelmed with the sudden change of environment.

2. Be understanding. We know we're under your roof, and respect your rules, but we've lived on our own for the past year, and we survived with more lenient rules. Sit down and talk with us, and come up with a mutual agreement.

3. Cook us a home cooked meal, it doesn't even have to be our favorite. We missed home cooking more than we missed Fluffy and our own bed.

Well, I have finals I must study for.

Thanks for reading,

Sam :)

Hope everything is going well on your end of the computer screen. Everything is going great here. 

Today was the last day of classes! After next week, I'll officially be a junior in college! That is so exciting. Time flies by so fast. It seemed like yesterday I was just moving in, shaking in my new RA boots. Now I'm a seasoned veteran in ResLife. I'm also halfway done with my psychology classes! I can't imagine how quick the next two years are going to fly by because the past two years have just blown by. WOO! 8 more days until move-out!

So earlier today I stopped by "Southfest." It was a free bbq with lots of live entertainment for FREE this afternoon. Way to go Hall Council! When I stopped by there had to be at least 200 people there. It was a lot of fun... plus the weather cooperated fantastically. What a way to close the school year.

So tonight, I'm actually attending the Residence Life Banquet today. It's going to be a lot of fun! Any time all the RA's are in one place, it's great. We're going to have great food and celebrate an amazing year. I'm so glad that I became an RA and got involved with ResLife. I've grown as a person SO much.

Then the next week is going to be crazy with finals, check outs and papers. PHEW! Need to breathe.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Sam :)

How are you? I'm good.. or as good as it gets this close to the end of the semester. It's time to take a deep breath! Phew okay... now onto business.

There are only three, thats right THREE days left of classes! Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Then Thursday is reading day. Reading Day is a day off that the University gives you to start studying for finals. Reading Day is also when we start enforcing 24 hour-quiet hours. At this point, you can hear a pin drop in the dorms. Everyone is so busy studying and writing final papers, there is no room for loudness to throw off your concentration, and the University gets that, thats why we (ResLife) enforce 24 hour quiet hours.

Finals start Friday. They go Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. There are three time blocks. 8am, 11:30am and 3pm. I have a paper due Saturday at 3, a Spanish take-home final due by Thursday at 3, my Community Psych final Wednesday at 11:30 and my Modern World exam is Thursday at 3. I have a pretty easy finals week schedule for the first time ever. Normally I have an 8am almost every day. I must have been blessed by the Finals Karma Fairy.

Finals week is also move-out week. Residents have to move out 24 hours after their last final, or Thursday at 6pm. Whichever comes first. So starting Friday, RA's are on call from 9am-11pm making sure people check out properly. It saves residents from getting charged extra for late fees, not returning their keys and other reasons.

Well I'm getting ahead of myself and I don't want to get stressed out!

Have a great week!

- Sam :)

P.S. I just wanted to say Hi to my friend Guthrie who reads this blog from his internship (for Plastics Engineering) in Vermont. Hi!

How are you? I'm doing really good. 

So, I enrolled in my Directed Study today. I'm working with one of my favorite professors at the university, Dr. Ivy Ho. Next semester will be my third semester taking a class with her. College is similar to High School in the aspect that you can have a favorite professor and take a few classes with them and get to know them on a more personal level. I feel more comfortable talking to her about my career choices and paths because I've taken several classes with her and have had advising with her. I hope you all get to find your favorite professor early on, she's helped me a lot this year.

I also took a spontaneous adventure home today. I decided I wanted a home cooked meal, so I packed up some things to drop off at home for the summer, found my boyfriend and headed home. 

First of all, I just want to point out how beautiful the weather was today. I got to drive home in my Honda Del Sol with the roof OFF! It was amazing. I love the feeling that the weather is changing and you can take out the flip-flops and put away the boots. 

Second of all, the food here is great and all, but sometimes you just need a home cooked meal. Nothing is better than dinner that your parents make. So I figured it was okay to spoil myself, drive home (ouch gas prices!), and enjoy a night off. It was just what I needed to get me through this very busy week and next week.

Well, I'm back at school now and I'm gonna go watch a movie.

Thanks for reading,

Sam :)

How are you? I'm incredible! Story time!!!

So the other day I was sitting on the computer, with my e-mail open, and I got a new e-mail. It was from Erin. She runs Orientation. The e-mail was offering me a position as a Full-Time Orientation Leader!!!!!!!! I'm soooooooooo excited! So all of you incoming students and families of incoming students, you might get to see me in June! Orientation is going to be incredible. All of the OL's (Orientation Leaders) and Leadership Staff are great people, and they work so hard to make Orientation a great time for everyone. I'm so proud to be on board.

ALSO, today was Spring Training for ResLife! First, we met with our future staffs and did team builders. Our team builder was a sharing activity. We had to bring 10 photos with us. Then our fabulous ARD (Assistant Resident Director) asked us questions and we had to answer with pictures. Like one question was "Pick one of your 10 pictures and talk about how it defines you." I picked a picture of me and my two cousins at my brothers communion. I talked about how I'm very family oriented and how my family is first and foremost. Then all of the RA's headed to Wannalancit and we had All-Staff training. It was a lot of fun getting to see all the new hires and veteran RA's in one room. It is probably one of the loudest events on campus. What can I say, we love to talk! It was a really good training session and it made me even more excited for 2008-2009.

Well, It has been a VERY long day. I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow! 

Thanks for reading!

Sam :)

Do you know what today is? It's May 1st. That means there are approximately 22 days left until move out. One of the greatest things about college is how early we get out for the summer!

So this week has been crazy! A lot of final papers and exam deadlines are starting to approach. Just this week I had two 5-page papers due, a research assignment and a Spanish exam. All on top of beating my cold. (Yes, I went to Health Services!) Phew!!! Tomorrow is an easy day for me, no quizzes or papers due, just class. Next week is another story though!

With May also comes Spring Training for Residence Life! All the new and old RA's get to meet up with their new staffs and team build all day. It is very exciting. Spring Training last year was my first real event with ResLife. It was love since then. I got a very cryptic e-mail from the RD of Bourgeois today saying that we need to bring 10 photos with us to training on Saturday. It was very hard just to pick 10 photos. They are a lot of friends, family and fenway (of course!). 

May 1st is also Foster Care Awareness Day. Last year, I planned the day with Professor Doreen Arcus. She is a great professor in the Psychology dept. and is a director of the Honors Program. She is one of the kindest people I've met at UML. Last year she kind of took me under her wing and helped me get involved. So today, it only seemed right to stop by "FCAD" (as we call it). There were a lot of representatives from the Department of Social Services, the Speak Out Team, Mass Families for Kids, Massachusetts Advocates for Children and many more. They also collected 100 pairs of shoes. For each pair of shoes, there are approximately 100 children in foster care. It was an extremely touching display, and at the end of the day, all of the shoes are donated to children in foster care. I really hope that next year I have the time to get back on board with planning the day. 

Well I'm going to call my mom because I have 15 minutes before I'm back on the go!

See ya,

Sam :)

I'm still sick! It's awful. I'm making an appointment at Health Services Monday! (I promise, Mom!) I hope your weekend was great though.

This weekend has been a blast! I couldn't go to the events on Thursday because I was on duty in my building, but everyone that came back said it was great! One of my residents even got to meet Pablo Francisco! How cool is that? I'm so jealous of her! The midnight breakfast was great too I heard. I had a good time too though, we all hung out in the lobby and played Scrabble.

Friday was tons of fun! I got to go to the carnival on South. I made an airbrush trucker hat, ate great food, hung out with some friends.. It was awesome. 

Then I came back, relaxed and got ready for Spring Fling. Spring Fling was a lot of fun! (round of applause for RHA.) They played great music and we danced all night. It was like a kickback to high school. Even people we didn't know were dancing with us. Thats the greatest part about college, there aren't really cliques. Everyone just gets along and makes friends.

Well I'm on duty again tonight, and it's about time to do a round. Gotta keep the building safe!

Have a great night and week!

Sam :)

How are you? Did you enjoy your long weekend? I sure did. I got to visit my best friend from high school this weekend. It is great to catch up with old friends after a semester or two at college. You have SO much to talk about. We caught up, exchanged stories, and watched lots of movies. It was great to just kick back with old friends.

BUT...

Now the week is here and I have a horrible head cold! Just in time for Spring Carnival... Yuck. I don't like being sick at all. If I still feel crummy tomorrow I'm going to make an appointment with health services on campus. (They are the fixers of all who are sick on campus!)

I just want to get better by Friday night. I'm so excited. RHA (Residence Hall Association) is putting on Spring Fling. It is a semi-formal dance for free on campus. I haven't went to a dance since high school. I'm very excited. Did I say I'm excited? I bought a dress this weekend, and shoes and it's going to be great. I love dancing. It is going to be the perfect end to a 3 day week.

Well I know this is a very short entry, but I want.. no I need to nurse myself back to health. I bought cough drops and orange juice at the school store in Fox Hall. It was great, I didn't have to spend money, I just used my points. Gotta love UML!

Have a great week everyone!

Sam :)

Jam Session was amazing last week. Our Smeames did such a great job! It was a lot of fun. There were some great bands and then everyone who just jammed was incredible. I think this should become a tradition thing.