Since returning for my last semester of college…..sorry I need a moment….alright, I am better now; since returning for my last semester of college I have had two great experiences that have helped my deal with the fact that this truly is the last semester. The first was Senior Convocation which took place the day before classes started. As freshmen, we attended freshmen convocation in St. Joseph Chapel where some students volunteered to speak on their hopes and expectations for the next four years. This time around we heard speeches from students reflecting on the past three and a half years (read them if you have a chance!) as well as musical pieces, one of which featured my roommate Kena playing her double bass! Probably my favorite part of Convocation was Dean Peace’s speech which brought everyone to their feet. It began:
We are blessed.
We are blessed to be.
We are blessed to be here.
We are blessed to be here now.
Which then led, naturally, to a discussion of penguins. Yes, penguins, you read it right and really there is no better image then a bunch of scared yet intrepid baby penguins to associate with the class of 2009. Some of us are ready to leave the ice sheet while others (I would put myself in this category) will simply wait to have the tide draw them away. It was a very moving speech and convocation in general was a great way to start the year.
The second wonderful experience I had to start off the year was at the 2009 Vault Reunion in Amy, Delia, Alicia and Erin’s room. I lived in a hallway called “The Vault” freshmen year; the name comes from the fact that it is one of the only halls that is split boys and girls with a huge, thick metal door separating the two, creating a vault-like atmosphere for the girls. It was a fantastic hall of about 22 girls and I still count many of them as my closest friends here. Carlin 411 happens to be all Vault girls (original roommate pairs too!) and they decided to have as many of the girls over as they could and the turnout was larger than expected! It was so great to just hang out with freshmen friends and seeing how everyone had changed…for the better of course! I think it speaks volumes of the community feel of this college that so many of the Vault girls remain great friends and even roommates (like Kena and I!) to this day. I put up a couple of pictures from the reunion of roommate pairs, the entire vault and (for old times sake) a picture of all of us three and a half years ago at freshman convocation!
I will finish this entry with a short list of great things at the school, I will fill you all in on my classes next blog after I have had a few more of them!
- ITS, or Internet Technology Services for the common folk like me. I came back to school with a really bad computer virus (thus the lack of blogging) and after a quick my computer was fixed in less than 24 hours. This would not have been a happy occasion if I had not backed up my files on my roommates external hard drive so I will restate what has been told to me since freshmen year…BACK UP YOUR FILES!
- Parents. Not just my own but those of my friends who have sent me Christmas socks and Asian food on occasion, it’s great that families are brought together through friends made here at Holy Cross. Sorry for not blogging more Mrs. Mullen!
- Birthday night at Kimball. Once a year there is a wonderful dinner in Upper Kimball devoted to birthday and especially birthday cake. In the past there was a large spread of various frostings and cakes which we students could use to decorate our own birthday cakes. I guess some students who shall remain nameless would get carried away with frosting so this year the good people at Kimball decided to have 12 different huge cakes, one for each birthday month. May was the best though I might be a little biased.
- Peach Cobbler at Kimball. I don’t really like it but Amy really does so I will mention it, she was in Spain last year (read her blog!) and they took it off the menu for the fall semester, leaving her heartbroken…luckily it’s back!