Hi Friends!

I’m back on campus early this semester to attend the Non-Profit Careers Conference. It is day two and so far it has been a delightful balance of informative and fun! I am extremely interested in non-profit advocacy groups, particularly those involved in the political process, but it is also nice to learn about charitable, religious, and educational organizations. We enjoyed a presentation by an individual involved in development at the Nativity School in Worcester, which provides a high quality education to young boys in low-income families. It was really great to hear about some of their stories, and some of the work that is involved in funding such an important local non-profit.

I am certainly looking forward to all that this semester will bring, and I will do my best to keep you updated on it. From the Vagina Monologues (coming up in February!) to my first experiences with the Honors Program, from traveling to El Paso, TX with the Spring Break Immersion Program to traveling to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala with the Arrupe Immersion Program in May, from working as Student Coordinator of Summer Gateways Orientation to executing the executing the first Agape Latte event at Holy Cross, and so many more interesting and awesome experiences to be had, to say that I’m “looking forward” to this semester is severely understating my anticipation for what the second half of my sophomore year will be like.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be working on door decorations for my residents (I still <3 my RA job by the way) and my case study for the Non-Profit Careers Conference with the Community Harvest Project. Check them out, they’re a really phenomenal organization.

DFTBA

Hey Friends!

It’s been a while. My sophomore year is hectic and a half in the best way possible!

People warned me about all of the applications associated with this year, but I really didn’t anticipate just how much it might be on top of my other commitments. The Summer Internship Program, the College Honors Program, Study Abroad, The Non-Profit Careers Conference, The DC Semester, and even meeting Neil DeGrassse Tyson when he comes to campus!

Although overwhelming, all of these opportunities are obviously really exciting. It has been difficult trying to live in the present when so many endeavors are so future-minded, but, I must say that this semester is going super well.

My position as an RA in Mulledy is phenomenal, I consider myself so lucky to work with such a wonderful group of girls and have the opportunity to build skills in a supportive community. Recently, we celebrated Diwali as a hallway by enjoying Indian treats, doing henna, listening to bollywood music, and making lanterns. Throughout the year, RAs are expected to organize eight different programs for their hall, but based on how the past few of mine have gone, I anticipate exceeding that number because it feels more like hanging out and enjoying unique experiences with awesome people than it feels like work. I am so grateful that this can be my work at Holy Cross.

Beyond that, other co-curricular activities are going really well too! Working in the Political Science Department, SGA, acapella, and Community Based Learning have diversified my semester and made it partly crazy, partly challenging, and partly great (scratch that, entirely great).

But perhaps the most formative elements of my semester come from academics. My happy combination of two classes in Political Science, one in Spanish, and one in Liberation Theology have shed light on some of the most pressing social justice issues of our time, which has lead me to consider studying abroad in Latin America and studying in DC next year.

So, although I’m entirely overwhelmed and under-rested, I’m filled to the brim with joy and excitement for what is ahead.

DFTBA

Hi Friends!

As September draws to a close, I am happy to be settling into a more normalized schedule. Of course, college has its curveballs, but I really do love this point in the year where it seems that we can move on from the introductory work of classes and activities and get to actually doing awesome things instead of just conceptualizing them.

Of course, this can also be overwhelming. Writing the first essays, taking the first exams, planning the first programs…it’s a lot. Tonight, I’ll be going to Boston College to see their first Agape Latte event of the semester. Agape Latte is a highly popular faith-based lecture series that started at BC. Through SGA, I have an opportunity to bring this event to campus this year with other interested students. Of course, I am nervous about making this event as great as it can possibly be. However, the fact that I can start something here through the support of a few campus organizations and offices is truly remarkable. The one-on-one interaction I can have with faculty and staff has been crucial to me establishing a foundation for Agape Latte at Holy Cross.

So, I’m off to BC! Hopefully I’ll learn some good stuff to bring back to the hill.

DFTBA

Emily

Hi Friends!

I’m reporting from my new home, Mulledy 4 East, where I am now a Resident Assistant in a hallway of 38 lovely ladies.

Last year, I enjoyed living in Mulledy 2 West, but I of course, I am psyched to literally move up in the world to the fourth floor. Those extra two flights are totally worth it when I get to hang with such cool people and enjoy the immense learning opportunity that it is to be employed by Residence Life.

As a first-year RA, I also was able to work as an orientation leader during Fall Gateways. Basically, I’ve been hanging out with the class of 2018 quite a bit, and from what I can tell they’re a really cool class.

It was sort of strange to be on the other side of gateways, both in the summer and in the fall, because I couldn’t believe how quickly a year had gone by, and perhaps more importantly, how quickly I fell in love with Holy Cross.

Today was the first day of classes, and I sort of passively appreciated how walking around campus and finding classes and talking to other students and new professors seemed so much easier this time around, not to mention how much less overwhelming 12-page syllabi looked.

It’s amazing how much comfort I now find in being a Holy Cross student when I think about the incredible mix of nervousness and anticipation I experienced at this time last year.

This is not to say that I’m so comfortable that I’m bored, in fact, to say that I’m excited about my courses and activities this year would be an understatement. I don’t yet know the ways in which I will be stretched and pushed this year, but I know that it is inevitable and awesome. Bring it on HC.

DFTBA

Emily

You might be wondering, what does the average Holy Cross student do during their summer in between first and second year?

I don’t really know, because my summer has been almost as strange as I am.

BUT it has also been great!

This blog is coming at you in the four parts of my summer (plus a little extra):

ONE: AWKWARD PERIOD OF TIME BEFORE SUMMER GATEWAYS.

As you may or may not know I had the privilege of being an Orientation Leader for Summer Gateways. But, there was a small chunk of time before Gateways started. I filled that mostly with reading books like Leaving the Atocha Station and The Stranger, eating plenty of homemade food, running slowly and poorly, and helping my mom with her business/house chores. I also worked when possible, but there’s nothing particularly interesting about that.

TWO: SUMMER GATEWAYS.

Gateways was definitely the highlight of my summer. It was truly a pleasure to get to know so many incoming first year students, and to spend (a lot of) time with Professional Staff and other orientation leaders prepping for their arrival. I had an awesome partner to work with and we had three super cool groups for all three sessions. The class of 2018 seems like a really great group.

THREE: ROAD TRIP.

I traveled from Connecticut to central Florida with one of my best friends from home. It was a really formative experience, pretty Kerouac-ian in nature, but we also clung to the ridiculousness of our friendship. Example: We made a legitimate flag that we would fly out the car window on occasion.

FOUR: FARM LIFE.

Now comes perhaps the most strange part of my summer vacation, working on a farm about a half hour away. This is my first summer on this particular farm, there are many around my area, and I have done everything from weeding plants taller than me, to chasing chickens around, to putting a makeshift cast on a guinea hen’s leg. Additionally, I have developed an impressive farmer’s tan.

And now, for fun, here are some of my favorites of the summer (I feel like Oprah):

Favorite Commencement Speech: OBVIOUSLY Jon Favreau, but I think Charlie Day’s at Merrimack was hilarious.

Favorite Movie: X-Men Days of Future Past (I also liked The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes & The Fault in Our Stars. I have varied tastes.)

Favorite Book (that I’ve read this summer, it was released a while ago): Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Favorite Song (released this summer): Photograph by Ed Sheeran, it’s beautiful (the whole album is, go check it out)

Favorite Overpriced Iced Tea from Starbucks: Unsweetened Black Tea Lemonade GO GET IT

Favorite Job I’ve Been Given on the Farm: Picking raspberries aka eating many raspberries

Favorite New Poster for the Dorm: A portrait of Jeanette Rankin, the first congresswoman.

Favorite (Vinyl) Record Bought: $1 Robert Plant from Goodwill. Nat King Cole coming in as a close second.

Stay Cool and DFTBA

I have whiplash…that school year went by so fast.

The idea that I’m a college sophomore is simultaneously awesome and preposterous.

Rather than a highlights reel, I’m opting to give a lowlights reel, if you will, a list of experiences this year that weren’t particularly phenomenal or unique, but still important to my fulfilling first year at Holy Cross.

1. I pulled some all-nighters. I’ll admit it, I like activities A LOT and sometimes I just don’t know how to say “no.” Time management isn’t always enough, and there just aren’t enough hours in the day…so I turned to night! And spent long hours in Dinand with fellow all-nighters, and none of us were ashamed. We were working hard on things we found important, and it is a quite gratifying feeling to walk out the doors of the library in the early morning holding a finished project. CAUTION: This is not a recommendation. Sleep is great. (But all nighters did teach me things.)

2. I cleaned and put away hundreds of Kimball’s dishes. Many first-year students work in Kimball, and although the work of cleaning kitchenware can be pretty mundane, talking, dancing, singing, and laughing with kimball captains and other workers made it worthwhile. So much goes into feeding a campus of students, and it was grounding to be a cog in that massive machine.

3. I learned a TON of acronyms. SGA, CAB, BSU, LASO, HEAL, OSI, SPUD, COPE, CASA, DESI, FLAs,  the list goes on. It can be overwhelming to enter into a community that has its own established jargon, especially when you have to essentially rely on experiential learning. I’m pretty amped that I’ve made progress on this venture. Probably should have been the top lowlight (oxymoron?)

4. I wrote a lot of letters. It can be hard to keep in touch with people when caught up in the variety of life at Holy Cross. Snail mail became a friend of mine–the slowness of that communication was something I could keep up with, and, I know it sounds corny, but something about it felt genuine and beautiful. Bottom line: 10/10 for USPS. Beware of stamp expenditures, though.

5. I realized my own privilege. After stumbling my way through the first few months of school and basically focusing exclusively on myself and adjustment, I realized  that I was settling into a schedule at my new home–AN AWESOME HOME. Holy Cross is a truly great place, and to say that I’m lucky to be a student at HC would be an understatement. I can’t wait to continue to try to make the most out of my time here as a Sophomore.

Happy Summer & DFTBA

Hi Friends!

I hope all is well. I HAVE EXCITING NEWS so let’s just jump right in–

This summer and fall, I will be an orientation leader! We’ve already started summer orientation training, and I’m telling you this group of people is going to make it super fun. If you’ve been accepted to Holy Cross, congratulations! I can’t wait to see the class of 2018 around campus. 🙂

I’m also going to be an RA next year in Mulledy Hall, 4th floor. Next semester seems rather far away but I am really amped to build community in the biggest dorm on campus. I’ve loved living here my freshman year and I hope that all my residents will, too!

I’m also pretty excited to see Chris Matthews speak tomorrow night in Hogan and to meet with a Diplomat in Residence from the US Department of State tomorrow afternoon. GOVERNMENT IS COOL.

I’m keeping this short and sweet because I have a pretty intimidating amount of work to do today. I love HC to the max but Easter Break is looking like a great time (especially with this beautiful weather!!). If I fail to touch base before then, have a happy holiday!

DFTBA

Hello Friends!

Spring Break 2014 is almost over! I had the pleasure of spending the past week in Wheeling, West Virginia as part of the Spring Break Immersion Program. Specifically, I had the pleasure of living and working in the Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling with 12 other students. It was a true honor to work with such a phenomenal organization and with such great people.

Holy Cross students went to over 20 sites in Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, Massachusetts, Alabama, Montana, New York, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Illinois, and New Jersey to learn about these communities and perform service.

These appalachia trips (frequently called ‘appa’) are increasingly popular, and now I can really see why. Working with the soup kitchen was such an awesome way to spend my week off from school. I got to travel to a place I had never been to before, learn about the people that live there and what life is like, and volunteer to recognize a need in the community. It is a really beautiful and mutually beneficial experience, because while I had the resources to travel and to volunteer time, the patrons of the soup kitchen had experiences to share with me and the manager had excellent stories about the town and the area. I learned so much about others and myself in such a short amount of time, and I could not be more grateful.

I think that this appa trip encapsulates one thing very well: Holy Cross gives me extremely unique opportunities. I am so happy to have met some of the people of Wheeling, and people from all class years here at Holy Cross. These new friends will be ones that I cherish.

Yes, there were times where work became tiring and tedious, and sleeping on the ground and showering less than once a day required adjustment. With that said, there is no better way I could imagine spending spring break. All of the trials are overshadowed greatly by the joy and fulfillment I experienced each day.

Now, I should be off to do laundry and reading. I hope your spring break was/will be filled with as much happiness as mine was!

DFTBA

Hello Friends!

It’s been a while. How are the wife and kids?

First I want to fill you in on a couple of developments that are more personal:

First, my Spring Break Immersion location is (drumroll please) …….Wheeling, West Virginia! Although I still don’t know what I’ll be doing there, I’m so happy to know where I’ll be going. True, all I know about Wheeling, West Virginia is that Billy Joel sets the scene with it in “The Ballad of Billy the Kid,” but hey, I’m sure it’s a fabulous place. Second, this semester I have a Community Based Learning class which means that I have the opportunity to use what I learn in class in a setting off campus. I’ll be working with Centro Las Americas’ Latino Elder Program to socialize with the elders and help them with English and computer skills. Finally, I am in the interview process to be an Orientation Leader and Resident Assistant next year. Because so many Holy Cross students are heavily involved in campus life, these are competitive positions, but I’m excited just about the process itself!

And now a few more general things:

IT IS SO SNOWY GUYS. I actually don’t mind winter especially when snow is involved, and HoCro is gorgeous. The campus maintenance crew also rocks, and despite our abundance of stairs, navigating hasn’t become any more difficult. MAJOR props to all of those shoveling champions! I took a quick picture of Fenwick quad which you can (kind of sort of) compare to the one in my post from the fall! Some events that have taken place so far are the Interfaith Prayer, in which I had the opportunity to participate (through Interfaith Council), the BSU Fashion Show, which I tragically could not attend but heard AMAZING things about, and the recent HC vs. Bucknell basketball game in which my acapella group sang the National Anthem and Holy Cross rocked at both throwing a sphere into a circle and preventing the other team from doing so. I’m not an athlete at all but I find college basketball massively impressive and entertaining. Oh! And the Super Bowl happened but frankly I don’t watch much football and that didn’t encourage me to watch anymore. I wasn’t on campus for that event, but I heard Kimball served up pretty great classics for the event (wings, nachos, etc.)

Please forgive me for the scattered nature of this post, looking back on it, it’s reminiscent of a more optimistic and less articulate Holden Caulfield stream-of-consciousness. Oops.

Regardless–Happy Valentine’s Day and DFTBA!

Hello Friends!

I’m back at Holy Cross, and it feels really good. Thanks to the remarkably helpful mother and father moving back in wasn’t a hassle at all. Unpacking and organizing wasn’t awesome but jamming to The Lovin’ Spoonful helped a little bit. Now that I’m all settled in and getting amped for HC life to start again, here are the top four things I’m excited for in my second semester (in no particular order).

1. Classes: Comparative Politics, Spanish, CRAW Fiction, and The Muslim World. I can’t think of a better schedule for me to explore new things and continue to explore the things I liked last time around. It also helps that I don’t have any classes before 9:30!

2. Friends: While I obviously will still have the pleasure of meeting new people, it is so nice to have some really great friends and to be done with that awkward stage of only semi-knowing people.

3. Spring Immersion: Over spring break I will be going to somewhere in Appalachia to do service with other Holy Cross students. I’ve only heard great things about these trips and I really can’t wait to find out more about where I’ll be going and what I’ll be doing!

4. Going Places: This semester I am making it a point to make better use of our shuttles. We have them to Boston, Providence, and other cool locations every week and I *really need* to make better use of these. Even just the times I’ve gone into Worcester have been a really great experience. (Side note, if you’re looking for a good restaurant in Worcester check out EVO near Kelly Square. It rocks!)

In general, I’m just really excited to see how this semester will take shape.

DFTBA