Hi everyone! This is my first time writing on this so let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Megan, and I'm a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. Technically, I'm just a math major, but I plan on double-majoring with economics as well. Usually when I tell people that, they act like I'm crazy... but so far, it's not too bad.

Anyway, it's a Sunday night here at BC, which means I'm taking a break from most of the work I've put off for the weekend. I always think the weekends will be so relaxing and give me time to catch up, but it's always the complete opposite. There are always sooo many different things going on that make me procrastinate even more. Yesterday I woke up early to try to be productive. I went to the gym for a quick workout, but it turned out that the varsity tennis team had a match right on the courts in the Plex. I had finished my run on the treadmill, but I ended up staying for awhile to watch the boys play against Colgate. It was amazing to see that on a Saturday at 10am, there were still plenty of BC students and parents out to support their friends/children.

Later on in the afternoon, some of my friends and I went into Boston for dinner and shopping. Having the T stop right on campus is so convenient... and even if the B line is a little too slow sometimes, you can take the Comm Ave bus to the D line and it's just as simple. That's been one of my favorite parts of BC- having the city right at your fingertips, but not actually living in it. Anyway, we shopped on Newbury Street and ate, then headed back to campus.

I wish I had time to write more but I have to get back to my work. Hopefully I can get to bed at a decent time... I'm exhausted. I'm training to run the Boston Marathon with a group of about 100 other students through the Campus School. Every Sunday morning we do our long group runs, so today was a 13-miler through the streets of Newton and Chestnut Hill. Needless to say, I'm quite tired! Hopefully this will all pay off on April 20th- Marathon Monday!

Have a good week everyone,
Megan

Hello all,

I just returned to the Heights from an exciting weekend in New Jersey with the BC Figure Skating Club Team. We were competing at the 2009 Eastern Sectionals Synchronized Skating Championships, or so it says on the gold medal hanging from my neck. Wait? Did I say gold medal? Yes, I did. We won.

Something you will learn quickly at BC is that the motto "Ever to Excel" really rings true, as corny as it sounds. People here are not just excellent students, but they also are amazingly talented outside of the classroom. Take my lovely floor of Gonzaga as a microcosm for the campus. We have two varsity swimmers, a hockey player, a lacrosse player, two girls who sing in the Chorale, one of whom has just been cast in the spring musical (congrats), almost an entire intramural volleyball team, and two members of varsity crew; and that's just from the top of my very sleep-deprived head. My point is that as a university we're good at what we do. Now, what if you don't play a varsity sport? That's where club sports and intramural sports come in. If you get your "exercise" fix from hiking up the Million Dollar Stairs, then no fear there are many people on my hall alone that feel the same way.

So back to the competition. What a blast. It was my first synchro competition; I skated singles through high school and I loved it. The highlight I would say was singing "For Boston" right before we stepped on the ice to compete and having the ice monitor, a BC alum, join in. When you are walking around in BC gear, it still amazes me how many people approach you or yell "Go Eagles!!!" which happened several times in the airport. I would like to say that once an Eagle, always an Eagle rings true here. Beyond that it was great getting to spend so much time with my teammates. The win was more the cherry on the sundae if you will.

So that's all I've got for now folks. I'm heading off to a FACES meeting in a few and need to get ready. TTFN.

Kristin

Spring Awakening?

The spring semester is beginning, and while not exactly warm and relaxing, it has started with some pretty sweet moments.

First, and most importantly, of course: it is absolutely prime sledding season. Though the weather is WICKED cold, everyone came back from break with nice warm winter gear, which I enjoyed seeing after having waved goodbye to a friend going home to California in flip flops. Seriously, though – it’s winter. It’s supposed to be cold. Good old Mother Nature dropped a foot or so of snow, which I naturally had to shovel, being home for the holidays. Now, many have found hills around campus, especially here on Newton, to get trays and sleds out and fly down in all kinds of creative - and slightly insane - ways.


We started classes a week ago; we have until tomorrow when Add/Drop period ends to finalize our schedules, and I am still moving around in my schedule. So far so good, though – my professors are great and class times are really quite convenient.

I just went to a meeting for College Bowl, similar to Academic Bowl apparently, which I was never part of, but it deals with trivia. Last night was Zombie, Pirate and Ninja themed night. I hope to go to Laser Tag this Saturday at the O’Connell House, the center of freshmen social life on Upper, and maybe back into the city – my friends and I visited the Museum of Fine Arts for free, since we go to BC. Other extracurriculars abound, and I just applied for a job with the IT support staff.

In Organisms and Populations class, we learned that a blue whale’s testicles weigh over a ton, but a fruit fly has the largest sperm, longer in fact than its body… and this actually related to the lesson in evolutionary progress. In chemistry, we passed around blocks of dry ice that could freeze our fingers off if we held them for too long. Cold potato, anyone? In my philosophy/theology class, we discussed the various college-life habitats, the mating and courting patterns of freshmen, and social structure based on a BAC of 16.7 (or something ridiculous) and the goal of college students in general being able to replace their blood entirely with alcohol. Believe me, these classes are not boring – and far from being inapplicable to life. Except maybe the biology facts… but as a lesson, make sure to put plenty of effort into choosing courses at any school. The teacher can make or break your future in that subject.

Anyway, that’s it for now, I am not envying those that have to go through the selection and application process, though I do sympathize. Good night and good luck!

Joe M.

Vending machines.

I would like to write about something extremely important to me - the vending machines on campus, and their evil vendetta against me.

You might think that I’m exaggerating severely, but oh, no, if only I could make this up. You see, I am slightly addicted to Sprite. Maybe more than slightly addicted. I’m lucky enough to be on a campus that carries Coke products, so the vending machines are supposedly well-stocked. I am quite used to said vending machines being sold out of Sprite when I have a craving, and it is always a slightly letdown to swipe my Eagle card, hit the Sprite button, and see that tragic “SOLD OUT” flash at me. Or the other day, when I was taking a break from tutoring in the Math Lab and needed something to drink, I got a very unfortunate “CASH ONLY” notice. Honestly, hardly anyone carries cash on this campus. You just don’t need it, your Eagle Card does everything. When the Sprite is not sold out and the machine decides that it’s accepting cards, though, the excitement I get upon hearing the machine make vending noises is ridiculous, as I anticipate my beautiful can of soda popping out at the bottom.

As if it weren’t bad enough that the machines like to run out of my most precious commodity, though, sometimes they just like to mess with my head. Earlier in the semester, when I was watching a movie with some friends, I needed Sprite- badly. So I grabbed a friend, took the elevator down to the lobby of Edmond’s, swiped my card, and hit the Sprite button. I heard vending noises- the sure sign of success!- and got giddy with anticipation of my bubbly refreshment. The clanking and machine noises seemed to be taking a bit longer than usual, and suddenly ceased, but no Sprite had appeared yet. I shot my friend a very confused look, and then glanced at the machine. “SOLD OUT.”

EXCUSE ME? “Sold out”??? Then why did you clink and clank at me, Mr. Vending Machine? Seriously. You’re not supposed to make vending noises unless you are going to VEND.

Well, you can imagine that I really, really needed Sprite now, especially because I thought I was going to get some. So my friend and I trotted over to the next building (Walsh), waited for someone to let us in, and then went over to the vending machine. I swiped my card, hit the button for Sprite, and heard the much-anticipated clinking and clanking noises. SUCCESS! Really, machines only make those clinking and clanking sounds when it’s going to provide the selected beverage. That one in Edmond’s was just a fluke. I surely had the unfortunate luck or having had the person before me buy the last Sprite, was all.

Wait, what? Where is my Sprite, Mr. Walsh Vending Machine?? “SOLD OUT”? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Okay, this just means war. Not only do I still have no Sprite, oh, no, that’s not enough for these machines. They must also fake me out with their stupid clinking and their absurd clanking.

At this point, my friend described me as being like a very angry pregnant woman being denied the one treat she is desperately craving. That’s why he quite happily followed along as I stormed off to find the vending machines in the next building, the Gate. At least my plight was providing entertainment for someone, I suppose. At any rate, we find the vending machines, though it doesn’t look promising- the snack machine is completely empty- but I swipe my card any way. The clinking and clanking sounds now mean nothing to me… I must have managed to un-Pavlovian dog myself. What’s that actually called? Extinction of classical conditioning. Thank you, psych class.

Wait, really? There’s actually Sprite here??? YES! THANK GOODNESS!

The snow lay on the ground...

So, this morning I was awoken by my roommate at 9:30 because it was snowing. Great white fluffy bits of sky were falling outside my window. The excitement was palpable.

I went down to McElroy to grab some food with a friend from my hall. After that I came back to my room and started my last chemistry homework of the semester before another friend texted me and asked if I would go to Mac with her; always up for food and prolonging any work, I obliged. After a french fry fueled discussion of the weekend's events, we decided we should go back up to Gonzaga and try to get some work done, it being finals week and all.

Back in my room, I make some raspberry tea and snuggle up under a blanket to check my email, then my Facebook, then the yoga schedule, then my Facebook and email again in case anything had changed. After feeling as if I had wasted enough time, I decided to start planning out my study schedule. We only have one more day of class tomorrow (Monday), and then two study days before finals week. Then I decided you, as a prospective student at Boston College, would love to hear about my day thus far and wrote this blog entry.

Tonight, I'll probably go to Mac again to grab some dinner and then possibly to a coffee shop near campus for an a cappella show and then Christmas Mass on Lower. It all depends on how much work I accomplish in the next few hours.

Until we speak again,

Kristin

It is the End of the World (Semester) as We Know It

So the semester is winding down; and by winding down I mean in the last week I've done more work than I thought was possible for one human being. If you're starting to feel sorry for me, I've also managed to watch almost the entire third season of Grey's Anatomy. What I have not done is sleep.

Today I turned in my final project for my documentary film class with Professor Michalczyk. I decided to make a press kit for Errol Morris' Film The Thin Blue Line. The documentary is a gripping quest for justice in a 1980's murder case. When I delivered my project, Professor Michalczyk suggested I watch Morris' film Standard Operating Procedure on the Iraq War next.

This afternoon, I went to the math lab like I always do, even though I've turned in my last homework for the semester. I talked with my friends for a bit before going upstairs to the English department in Carney to meet with a Professor I hope to have in class next semester. After that I walked down to lower with a friend and caught the Comm. Ave bus in front of Conte forum. The Comm. Ave bus takes students, mostly juniors, who live off campus home as well as allowing all students a quick trip to Cleveland circle or to Boston as the bus allows students easy access to both the D and C line. I made a quick trip to Boston before returning to my room to do work.

Around 6, my friend Jane who lives down the hall texted me to see if I was planning on going to the review session my Gen Chem teacher was holding tonight for our test on Friday. After grabbing a quick bite in Mac (McElroy), we went over to Higgins for the session. Now I'm back in my room, working on my papers for my writing portfolio and contemplating another episode of Grey's. Then I think I'm going to hit the sack early tonight and rest up before finals next week.

Until next time,

Kristin

A Day in the Life of a Math Major

Monday, December 1

• 8:57AM- My alarm goes off. I hit snooze after exactly one second of "Accidentally in Love" by Counting Crows.
• 9:06AM- My alarm goes off again. I hit snooze again.
• 9:11AM- I finally roll out of bed, wrap myself in my blanket, turn off my alarm, and sit at my computer.
• 9:23AM- I realize I should probably stop Facebooking and start getting ready for the day. I grab some clothes and hop in the shower.
• 9:36AM- I'm back at my computer again. Whoops!
• 9:42AM- I head out of my building, across the parking lot and up through the parking garage elevator. I'm just not feeling the Million Dollar Stairs today.
• 9:58AM- I arrive in Fulton for my Abstract Algebra class just in time to get back the exam we had before Thanksgiving break, and then settle in for some note-taking.
• 10:52AM- My roommate and I arrive in Hillside, snatch a table (surprisingly, there are some empty ones today!) and get in line for sandwiches. One of my friends who works there makes me a fantastic chicken club with lots of honey mustard, and I take an extra side to go with my frips (fries+chips=...). Honey mustard is heaven, but I could seriously live off of honey mustard with frips.
• 11:28AM- Realize I didn’t finish my Probability homework. Take out said homework, realize I actually had finished it after all, and put it away again.
• 11:47AM- Roomie and I arrive in our Probability classroom to get our ideal seats, and also start taking down the notes the professor has already put on the boards while discussing the He Said/She Said column of The Heights.
• 12:53PM- Head over to Carney to tutor in the Math Lab for a couple hours, and spend some time grading math homework for Calc 2 when no one needs tutoring.
• 3:00PM- Run back to Edmond’s to grab my ID and blood donor card so I can go to the blood drive.
• 3:30PM- Check in at the blood drive in Gasson, work on a paper while I wait, then donate blood, eat some cookies and drink some juice. For some reason, cookies at blood drives are fantastic. Maybe it’s the lack of blood.
• 5:00PM- Meet up with my aunt for a while, have some nice conversations.
• 5:50PM- Meet up with a classmate to work on our Psychology project. Spend an hour or so analyzing our data and talking. Her room in 90 is fantastic, I’m very jealous of her bay windows.
• 7:54PM- Arrive back in my room, and start trying to read for my Psych exam I have on Thursday. One of my friends comes by to show me the BC Men’s Ice Hockey poster, and point out where we are on it. We look at the poster for a good fifteen minutes or so, discussing how cheesy and poorly photo shopped it is, but how much we enjoy it anyways.
• 8:11PM- She leaves and I start reading again.
• 8:23PM- Another friend comes in to talk about Christmas present ideas. We finally figure out what she should get, and I finish my last page of reading.
• 8:49PM- I head next door to Walsh to do some work and hang out with two of my sophomore friends. One of them puts in a load of laundry, and we go back to her room to talk and look over the script proposals for the CCE's next murder mystery comedy show. Very little work is accomplished.
• 11:18PM- We realize the laundry has been left in the washing machine for at least an hour extra, and run down to put it in the drier. I make her use her Eagle card to buy me some Reeses Cups. Go back upstairs and proceed to spend an hour watching youtube videos, including Disney Sing-along Songs. We keep an eye on her laundry this time using LaundryView on the UGBC website.
• 12:40AM- When my friend goes down to get her laundry, I decide I should head home and go to bed. Arrive back in my room to find a note from my roommate on my desk saying "I like your face." Leave her a note that says "I like your face more," and go to bed.