PDay 2010

video of pool rolling

So on Sunday I went to the pool where we keep a few kayaks to practice rolling in. Pool sessions allow a someone to be in the water and help break down the process and guide the students through the steps. I wanted to go and see if I could roll again because I have done it once. I like trying new things and challenging myself with things like this. I don't enjoy being under water like this, but would love to have the control to be able to roll myself back up so I have been working on it on an off over the last year. So during the pool rolling session I used the Wilderness's Programs awesome water proof camera and videoed another leader learning how to roll. In the video posted Tully rolls himself over and is grabbing Ronny's hands as he practices using his hips to flick himself up. Using your hips is crucial to the roll. So I hope you guys enjoy the video as much as I had making it!

Winding down and Rolling over

So, This past weekend and week have been pretty packed full of work and activities for me. Last Friday Third Eye Blind came to campus and put on an amazing performance! I went with my friends Casey and we had fun singing loudly to songs we knew and pretending we knew the words to other songs that we didn't know. ( For the record I am a terrible singer except when I'm in the shower!). I can't remember how old I was when I first started listening to them, but it was a long time ago so seeing them now was pretty awesome.


Saturday proceeded to be overcast with sprinkles of rain so the girls and I watched a movie in Purtil and enjoyed our Saturday afternoon together. My busyness picked up Sunday afternoon after sleeping in to 12:30! I went to check out the earth fest in the gym and painted a pot and planted some Basil in it and devoured some delicious local fruit and veggies. Earth fest was awesome they had a band that was being powered by solar energy and had a lot of their food donated. They sold green up eco friendly water bottles and had tie dying. It was a lot of fun and a great way to support my roommate and friends on Green Up. After some free music, food, and fun I went to a kayak rolling pool session offered to Wilderness Leaders.

The Wilderness Program at Saint Mike's offers trips through out the Fall and Winter to students. These trips include hiking, snow shoeing, kayaking, rock climbing, skiing, ice climbing, and more. They also offer trips over long weekends and in the summer along with some freshmen orientation trips. These trips are led by students who get certified in Wilderness First Aid and leading specific trips. I had never gone hiking or camping much until I did a Wilderness Orientation Weekend (WOW) the summer before freshmen year. I loved it and wanted to challenge myself and get to experience the great outdoors. So I was chosen and began my training. The thing that most students don't know about is all the training and prep WP leaders do. If you want to specialize in certain areas you need to practice and work on a variety of skills and pass exams in order to be the main leader or have the specialization. So for Kayakers, leaders work on rolling a kayak. What this entails is staying in your boat and having a spray skirt attached so when you flip over under water your still held in. To roll you go through a variety of steps to be able to roll yourself back up by using your paddle and hips. This sounds very complicated and is until you can retrain your brain not to panic under water and flip yourself back up.

After pool rolling I ran to the Fall 2010 study abroad meeting for all students studying abroad next semester. It was amazing to see how many students are going abroad and that 60% of us going will be in Europe and a lot more will be gone for a full semester. I will be going to Florence, Italy for the fall! After going to this meeting it makes it just as real and so much closer, I can't believe it. I still have so much to do and get as the summer nears and August 30th draws closer! I am excited that I will be home this summer and can have my Mom help me get everything together. Last summer I stayed on campus and worked for the Wilderness Program. So hopefully I find a job soon and can return home ready to work my butt off so I can have money abroad. I'm excited that I will get to return to campus one last time before I go when I come up for POW 2! I was asked to give on of the Belonging talks on POW and cannot wait. Throughout the semester POW 2 has been meeting and preparing our talks for the weekend in July.

A lot of you are probably going whats POW? Well POW is a freshmen orientation trip you can sign up to go on before you come to SMC. You get to hear a bunch of talks from current students on topics such as belonging, relationships, academics and more. During the weekend you stay at a retreat center and play games, go on a little hike, and get to really know some awesome people. This will be my first POW because when I came to school I did a WOW which was a wilderness oriented trip. On WOW you can choose which outdoor activity you want to do for three days like kayaking, rock climbing, hiking, or a combination. I went sea kayaking and met one of my good friends Mike on it. I loved getting to try kayaking for the first time and experience camping for the first time. Since WOW I became a wilderness leader and have camped and kayaked so much along with other activities. I will put up a slideshow of my WOW pictures and post about Pday this week so keep an eye out for those. Well thats all for now.

xo beth

Is it really April?

I was having a bad day on Saturday and new all I really needed was some sunshine, a swinging bench, and maybe a little shopping that goes a long way. So I headed down town to my favorite spot in Burlington, the water front! The water front is right near Echo aquarium and connects to the Burlington bike path which can take you over to north beach. I began my journey by first stopping into the new Peace and Justice store right next to the Skinny Pancake.


Now if you have never been to either of these I highly suggest grabbing a delicious crape and then popping next door into the store before proceeding to the water front to digest and relax. The Peace and Justice store used to be located on Church street before its grand move. Now the new store is much more cozy and offers items that are all free trade and a lot of eco-friendly things too. They have Tibetan prayer flags to some awesome recycled bags and some cool bumper stickers to name a few things. I hadn't had the opportunity to go to the new location until Saturday and was so impressed. Well I titled this blog after I found this ecological tear off calender that I have, but my mom wanted. The calender was only six dollars and I bought it with the intent of mailing it to her asap. I told my sister that I got our mom this and she looks at me and goes "It's April the year is like half way through!" I had forgot that it wasn't just February or March, but April! I still plan on sending her the calender because I know she will enjoy it, but I couldn't believe that 2010 is flying by so fast.

After my purchases ( I also bought a notebook made of all recycled material and a bumper sticker that says imagine) I knew I needed to head towards the waterfront before I wanted to buy more. The good thing is these purchases are helping a good organization and are not exploiting laborers in other countries. If you follow the side walk down the hill some more past the Echo center you'll come to the harbor. Turn right and walk along until you find a open swinging bench! These benches are my favorite and have one of the best views in Vermont. They overlook Lake Champlain and on a clear sunny day like Saturday you can see straight across at New York and the Adirondack Mountain range. It's breath taking and such an amazing site to be able to sit and rock while enjoying.

I love this place because I can come down their and just reflect and enjoy the view, or bring a book to read, or journal. With my new snazzy journal from the Peace and Justice center I started writing mainly about my spectacular view. I also wrote about all the various people and dogs that walked by. It's a great place to people watch which is one of my favorite things to do in public places (especially in airports)!

I think the funniest parts about my trip was as I was half way through my writing when a Canadian couple asked me to slide over on my bench so they could sit with me. I was very confused and a little agitated at first, but I found it comical as I continued to sit and write as they began talking in French. I then wished I could remember French class in the 8th grade so I could over hear them and maybe surprise them by saying something. Unfortunately, Italian was the only thing I could think of and I finished my entry and left them to enjoy the view.


You never know what or who you might encounter in Burlington and it always keeps things interesting.

Burlington is amazing in every season and going down to the water front when it's covered in ice or hot and sunny out makes it a little different and gives you a different perspective or view on things. I love to go down when i want to reflect on life or when I need a breath of fresh air. I quick hour down and back is all you need.

all for now <3

beth

Registering for classes

You know it's registering time for classes at Saint Mike's when you skip over to your mailbox to find the envelope telling you what day you get to wake up at seven to press SUBMIT. But, wait a minute a lets back up a minute before you start getting stressed about being in Group 3 or being a first year and registering.

This is the time when campus is all a flutter with the end of one semester approaching in the horizon and the possibilities for a brand new perfect semester are just a few clicks away.

If you are a first year you now know some of your favorite professors and which classes you have heard are superb to take. Your planning on maybe having a schedule that allows you to sleep in to ten am or maybe a schedule that has you finished everyday by 2. Yes, there are some "horror" stories of people registering and it freezing, BUT I think people too often forget how everything usually works out.

One of the best things I tell my friends when they begin to get worked up about registering is that if your trying to get into a class within your major sometimes if you email the professor and express interest and inquire about extra seats they might have held and you could in fact be in luck! Second, never under estimate the power of a good email to a professor about seeing if you could join their class. This semester I was able to get into my favorite class by persevering and emailing the professor several times until he got my email. When he did he was impressed about my interest in the class and allowed me in his class. Now this does not always work and some classrooms don't always have a few extra desks, but I feel that if you try or talk to some professors or your advisor your crisis of class registration could become your best semester. Thirdly, even if your in the last group to register, there are still seats held in some classes so the first two groups don't get to fill them up. The registrar's office does leave seats for the third round.

Finally also keep an active presence on Knight Vision and make sure to have plenty of back up choices. When everyone has registered and the system goes live allowing students to add or drop or switch there schedule, you may find openings in classes that were originally closed. The best piece of advice is to stay calm and be patient with scheduling. Everything happens for a reason. Your schedule isn't definite until two weeks into classes and you can adjust and make changes. So during the next week or two left in registering don't forget to relax and be aware of all the wonderful options to fix or adjust your schedule and how nice our faculty can be during this process. Never feel that you are doomed, And remember even seniors sometimes have scheduling issues...it's not just you or your group status on going.

Being a College student you tend to get very busy, easily stressed and can get so caught up in the fast pace of classes and things going on campus. I found this list of ways to live a more well balanced life and loved it. I think there are some really great points to remember and help especially as a college student nearing the end of the semester. I found this on http://www.essentiallifeskills.net/wellbalancedlife.html

Tips for living a well balanced life

Take care of and nurture yourself.
You cannot accomplish anything if you're unhealthy. Get plenty of rest, exercise and eat properly. Many people think they can burn the candle at both ends, eat junk food, get very little exercise, and still function adequately. You may be able to get away with this for a while if you're quite young, however, at some point this type of life style will catch up with the best of us. Burnout is a real possibility.
You may want to set aside time each day for an activity that you enjoy, such as walking, working out or listening to music. Or, allow yourself to unwind after a hectic day by reading, meditating or taking a nice hot bath.

Know what your priorities are.
Balance doesn't mean do everything you can. Examine your values and decide what's important to you, then set your boundaries. You may be in the process of building a career, starting a family or going to school. Depending on what stage you're at in your life, your focus and energies will be different. Try not to become overwhelmed by juggling too many big projects in your life at once. Maybe planning a wedding is not a good idea when you're studying for the bar exam. Nor, is starting a family when you are unsure about your career direction, or relationship status. Not knowing what you want and trying to do everything at once can be a recipe for disaster instead of the road to leading a well balanced life. Try not to bite off more than you can chew.

Create an efficient mindset.
Be organized and plan ahead. Take time at the beginning of each week to assess what needs to be done. Make a to-do list in a planner or calendar for upcoming appointments, exams to write or study for, or meetings to attend. Be sure to assign recreation and quality time for yourself and your family as well. Taking time to connect with family and friends will recharge your batteries and make you more efficient in the long run.

Expect the unexpected.
Rather than get stressed and upset, allow yourself to roll with the punches when something you have no control over happens. You may get stuck in traffic, your computer could crash or your child could get sick with the chickenpox. Stuff happens. We've all experienced the unexpected. If you accept that anything can happen at any time, it's less likely it throw you off your stride when it does. Be able to adjust your game plan.
Note also, that there are times when achieving balance may not be possible. For instance, you may have a family or career crisis that needs your immediate and undivided attention. It may require an exceptional amount of your time and resources. When that happens, do whatever it takes and when things go back to normal take time to refresh and rejuvenate yourself.

Maintain a positive mental attitude.
Begin each day with the intention of making the best and most of it. It may not always go as planned, but it can go more smoothly if you put it in perspective. Part of living a well-balanced life is learning how to deal with adversity, unforeseen events and uncertainty. If you practice not letting things get to you, you will not only learn to live a well balanced and less stressful life, you will learn to live in and savor the moment. Once you've done everything you can within your control, let your life unfold. Be prepared for the future, but don't worry about it.

M.O.V.E. Service Extended Trip Kentucky CAP

This Spring Break I was lucky enough to participate in one of M.O.V.E. service trips which are offered on breaks. I got to go to Jackson County Kentucky and work with CAP (Christian Appalachian Project) work-fest. CAP has work fest every year where they have numerous colleges come during their spring break for a week to help repairing houses. Work-fest is three weeks long and we went down for the last week of work-fest. During the week we get divided up into teams so different colleges are working together (I was the Green team). Each team gets assigned a house and family and does repairs and work depending on the needs of their family. At my site we were mainly working on siding the trailer and putting up the roof. I am now a master at siding and ventured up on the steep roof...I never had a fear of heights until I was on that roof! (My crew leader Pat was a great sport and helped me get up on the roof and enjoyed my ridiculousness and new discovered fear of steep roofs).

My group was comprised of all girls who are from NYC, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Chicago! Our crew leader Pat put up with our screams, are laughter and korny jokes all week long and taught us all our skills. By the end of the week we were getting along so well and had really connected. We had started off as having limited skills to talking and knowing all the construction lingo....J-channeling, snips, a level and many more technical skills. It was a great trip to get to know new people from other schools along with a group of Saint Michael's kids that I really didn't know prior to the trip.

As a SMC group we bonded as we had travel delays and long waits sitting in various airports due to weather delays. We even wrote a poem about our crazy travel adventures to get to Kentucky (thank you Mischo)! We all were silly together and then could have really great conversations about all our experiences and work we had done. To this day I still think about Kentucky everyday and CAP and my family that I worked with. Kentucky now means a lot more to me and I hope to return some day and work with CAP again.

I Think every Saint Mike's student and faculty member should go on one of these trips because they really change your perspective and allow you to get close to other SMC students that you didn't really know before hand. Check out my slideshow to see the kind of work I did and some fabulous group photos!!

Ktuck <3

beth

About Me

Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Beth and I'm a sophomore at Saint Michael's College! I'm an English and Anthropology/Sociology double major! Let me tell you where I come from and what I love to do!

Well, I was born in California and lived there for a short time. I moved to Hillsborough, New Jersey for three years, then moved and lived in Marshfield, Massachusetts for six years before moving back to Hillsborough, New Jersey. Senior year, I took a plunge and had an adventure moving to Tennessee right outside of Nashville! So home is now in Tennessee and I love going home as much as I can and savoring sweet tea and southern cuisine. Family is very important to me and I have an older sister, Megan, a wonderful Mom and a terrific Dad along with our puppies, Molly & Rory (we video chat sometimes!) I love all these states and am lucky to have gotten to live in all these people and meet such wonderful people.

Some of you might say,"Why Vermont and Saint Michael's College?" Well I have fallen in love with Vermont ever since I have visited my sister, Megan, at SMC and it has always felt like home. I love the mountains, I love Burlington and all it has to offer!

I am a Wilderness Leader at school and love rock climbing, kayaking, ice climbing, hiking, snowshoeing, and skiing. I'm an editor on our lit magazine the Onion River, a tour guide, and I love participating in M.O.V.E. trips as often as I can. I also enjoy reading, writing, going on adventures, singing in the shower, yoga, kick-boxing, and trying something new even if it scares me.

Next semester, fall 2010, I will be studying abroad in Florance, Italy. I will be with the program API studying at Le Scuola de Medici. I can't wait to blog about all my experiences and share my photos and passion for the Italian culture!

Follow me and learn a lot more about me and my adventures at Saint Mike's !

Beth