Happy April!

Hello there....
I can't believe it's April 1st! wow... I have so little time left at Suffolk! I have been getting really sentimental lately when it comes to how short a period of time I have left here... looking back over four years and remembering all the good times! But I will save my sob stories for my last blog... so be on the lookout!
This past Sunday was showcase, which was quite fun with the rain, haha, not really. I was really excited to talk to some families, and students (much like yourselves) but the rain put such a damper on the day, I am hoping to a sunny Sunday this week so that we can have some more fun!
I also started my new job this week! I am now working the shoe department at City Sports in downtown crossing! It is a lot of fun so far, but having to run down the stairs for different sizes can get a little exhausting. Everyone I have worked so far has been super nice and I am looking forward to getting more comfortable with the technical details of shoes and the staff!
I also got to go out and do my service learning for Environmental policy and politic this weekend. We went into Dorchester Friday and Saturday am to look for sings of lead on houses in the neighborhood. I had a lot of fun although the weather gave me a cold! So i am a little sick but starting out April with a smile anyway.
Gotta run, sorry there isn't more exciting material for my blog this week! Hope all is well.

ASB... best week of my life

Hello all.... I know it has been two weeks, but I actually was in Mississippi last week with no Internet access or I would have blogged every day about how amazing my trip was. Last week I was given the opportunity (by the S.O.U.L.S (Suffolk's Organization for uplifting life's though service) office at no price to me. Amazing ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY) to go on Alternative Spring Break 2009... So I packed my bags and headed down to Starkville Mississippi to help build a house for Habitat for Humanity. The series of events that we went through as a group brought me so close to the 19 other people on my trip that I could not imagine my life without this experience. (hint: this is my way of suggesting that you take advantage of this opportunity when you get to Suffolk... Or really any school that you go to because it was that amazing.)

So we got there late, lost someones luggage, and entered the wrong address into the GPS so we got unbelievably lost the first day on our two and a half hour drive from the airport, but my car was rocking out so much to the amazing tunes that I didn't really mind the drive. I had to be one of the van drivers because I was the only student on the trip over 21, and I was pretty nervous but managed to go the whole week with only one scary driving moment, which was on the way back to the airport. Anyway, we finally got to the church an hour late and I was kinda embarrassed because I felt like it was rude to walk in so late... but they were so welcoming and excited to see us that you would have thought that we were right on time. Southern hospitality is such an amazing thing. Sometimes I feel like we try to be so rushed and busy to feel as though we are doing something worthy that we forget how the simple things in life, like a genuine smile or welcoming hug, make bigger differences than most things we try to pre-occupy ourselves with.
After our dinner we moved to a cabin at a boy scout camp which was slightly under our expectations, but it was so nice to be in nature that I didn't really mind being there. By Wednesday we happen to find a cockroach and a dead mouse ( which were most likely products of our own stupidity... ie. leaving the door open when there was food in the cabin) and Thursday we had to move to a church basement, and Friday night we long hauled back to Jackson and camped out on the airport floor. It was a big mess trying to figure out where we were going to stay and what we were doing, and it was even harder having to stay up til 330 in the am, driving, after a long day on site, our last dinner with the other groups and then the two games of Bowling that we played at the Starkville lanes, but all these twisted events brought us all closer together.
On site we had quite the experiences also, between the other two groups, one a Catholic group from Mississippi State and the other a group from Plymouth State, and the Habitat volunteers from Startkville. We became really close to our three leaders on site, John, Pat and Dave, who do this everyday and are all amazing people. We even got Pat to create a Facebook account so that we could keep in touch with him! We had our fare share of crazy incidents on site too, like this guy Ty, who had several interesting life stories to tell us about, even if we were rather uninterested, and there was a time that a ten foot 2x4 nearly fell on my head, while I was helmet less, with two nails sticking out of it ( luckily I am speedy and alert so i Jumped out the way! haha). They really appreciate everything they have down there, Ty even told me he felt bad for me because I lived in an apartment in downtown Boston, and he had tons of land and a beautiful triple wide trailer, while my initial reaction was that he may be crazy, I realized that he had an appreciation for a life that I could never understand, and he is probably right to feel bad for me, not the other way around. We also got to experience all the different Churches from the neighborhoods coming out to feed us lunch on site. There was even one older woman who came down everyday with a fresh batch of sugar cookies for us! These moments were some of my favorites on the trip because they make you realize what you have, and to be thankful, also they teach you how much can happen when people come together to build a dream. We were in the poorest part of this town and there was no shortage of people willing to help, even if it was just a batch of cookies.
Then of course there are the moments that I spent with the 19 amazing individuals that took the journey to Starkville with me. Each and everyone of them are amazing people who touched my heart and changed my life. I was in a pretty rough time in life the week before we left and they all helped me laugh so hard that I forgot what was going on in life. The times in the cabin playing catch phrase or apples to apples, or doing our roses and thorns of the day were what was absolutely amazing... even waking up to Kelsey's "wouldn't it be nice" beach boys alarm every morning are all going to be memories I keep with me forever, not to mention our obscene number of trips to Sonic, and our minor food fighting incident at the first sonic visit. One of my favorite memories was our trip to Wal-Mart as a group where we nearly got kicked out for taking a picture. Apparently It is illegal to take photos in Wal-Mart and you must get corporate permission before doing so, so next time you hit a wal-mart, make sure your camera's are away! We got to do all sorts of fun experiences like go to a Mississippi State baseball game and ring the fan's cow bells! Even the fans at the game, that had no idea who we were let us ring their cow bells and told us all about Mississippi. We even got on the jumbo tron- (I got on Twice! Once was for the chicken dance! and we should have won except for this small boy won instead. whatever!). I really enjoyed every experience I got to have with these people and exploring the area.
Ok, so I most likely have written so much that you are board but I wanted to write down all my experiences and maybe inspire you to go to college (really anyone... but hopefully Suffolk!) and to get involved. Maybe you are into community service, maybe not, but getting involved helps you connect to people that share your interest and offer you true friendship. I know that these 19 people will be people that will always hold a special place in my heart and I hope to stay connected with all of them.

Senior Night, Macbooks , frog pond and more...

Ok, So it's been far too long since my last post! (things in the office were busy and my life was in a little lull...aka nothing overly exciting happened so I figured I should do other work...) Any way, this week was a lil different! Well really the last week and a half, but as already noted, Its been a while.

So last Thursday we had Senior Night at McFadden's, a local bar, to celebrate 100 nights until graduation. It was actually somewhere in the range of 80-85 days until graduation, but we, the senior week committee, got a little preoccupied and kinda forgot to plan it a little sooner-oops! Anyway, it was the same night that Mr. Belding, from Saved by the Bell! came to campus, so Whit and I tried to squeeze both events in, and did so rather well. Mr. Belding was suppose to talk for about four hours including trivia and other aspects of his 'show', but we only got to stay for the first hour or so, and we made Rich come with us!!! Anyway, the whole night was tons of fun because it was one opportunity to see all your friends in one night and to see people you usually would not.

I also just got my tax rebate! and I am thinking about purchasing a mac book! I am really excited about this because my old computer is dying, and It would be so nice to have a new computer that is actually capable of basic functions! Anyway, I know this is a huge purchase so I am pretty nervous and I went to the Apple store on Boyleston the other day to take my time and learn everything I could about the Mac book. The employees are not paid commission in order to actually help you find a computer that is best for you, not that would make them the most money which is awesome. So a very nice associate, Paul, sat with me for about an hour and fifteen minutes making sure I knew what i needed, and helping me learn all the features that are going to be different on my Mac book then they are on my PC. They also offer free tutorials on how to use different Mac programs like I work... the Mac Microsoft office equivalent. I still got nervous and left empty handed but I think I am going back to get one this week!

Then there was yesterday, which was a glorious day! I went to target to get ready for Alternative Spring Break! With my friend Kelly and (of course) Whit! We went and tried to get stuff for the trip but mostly just ended up buying everything that we wanted and not really getting much for the trip. Then I had to go to work but i got out early! So whit and I went to visit TJ at the Frog Pond! He was working until 9 so we went to hang out then we all went out to dinner. Whit and TJ are two of my favorite people so it was a great pleasure to get to go to dinner with the two of them. We went to the Cheesecake factory and I had the crusted lemon chicken with asparagus and mashed potatoes and it was amazing. TJ decided to order whatever the waitress would have ordered... then he gave his leftovers to a homeless man, which was super sweet of him, and the man seemed pretty stoked for life.
I went home to find Law and Order SVU was on, followed by Selena, which completed the perfect day. Did I mention that it was beautiful out! I wore FLIP FLOPS! It was pretty much the best day ever... then this morning it was snowing... :(