First Year Blog

Salvete, omnes!
I’m currently sitting in my room when I should be in Montserrat class (no, I didn’t skip!). Today we were supposed to have class in the Mulledy seminar room, which we did once in November. When we do this, since our class time is prime lunch time, we usually have lunch together for the first part of class and then get down to business. However, our lunch order did not go through, and Professor Joseph was so disappointed that he dismissed us so that we could go eat. I’ve never seen so many students actually unhappy that a class was cancelled—we were all looking forward to our class today, in which we were going to discuss Tacitus’ Agricola, a work with which Professor Joseph has spent a lot of time on in his research. Ah, well, Friday’s class will hopefully make up for today!
Easter break was last Thursday-Monday, and despite a long and traffic-ridden ride down to Philadelphia with my dad, the break was much appreciated (especially because the weather in Philadelphia was divine). However, I was a bit anxious to get back up here because I have a long laundry-list of things I need to accomplish before the year is out. The ride back up here was a lot of fun, because my uncle came with us to see my cousin Kevin and his wife Amanda, who are expecting a baby in May. My dad, my Uncle Mike and I all hung out at their house Monday afternoon, ordered pizza, and relaxed before we all had to jump back into another work week.
Speaking of work week, I’m excited to report that I was recently named a Kimball captain! Last night I had my first official training session in Lower Kimball, where I have actually never worked…so that was quite the experience. My shift tomorrow actually has four CITs, or Captains in Training, so I’m pretty sure that my good friend and captain of two semesters, Colleen Curran, along with our other shift captain Will, are going to just leave all of the ‘captain-stuff’ to us. That’s fine with me, because I have to get all of these captain duties down before I jump into the leadership role by myself next year!
I’ve noticed so many perspective and accepted students visiting Holy Cross within the last couple weeks, and yesterday I actually had the opportunity to show a family around the Cross from my area. Doctor Bender, my archaeology professor, asked me to speak with and show around the youngest member of this family, a really sweet freshman named Kate—but I ended up giving their entire family, including two junior boys, a tour of campus. I had an absolute blast wandering around campus with them and answering all of their questions; I’m thinking that senior year I may actually want to become a tour guide myself. I always feel as if I am doing my duty to getting Holy Cross’ name out through this blog, but anything extra I can do is always a plus!
Off to office hours with Professor Joseph for my final Montserrat paper (in lieu of a final). The walk over should be enjoyable—the weather for the past couple days has been sunny and in the 50s. Spring fever is in the air! Valete!

Salvete, omnes!
I’m currently sitting in my room when I should be in Montserrat class (no, I didn’t skip!). Today we were supposed to have class in the Mulledy seminar room, which we did once in November. When we do this, since our class time is prime lunch time, we usually have lunch together for the first part of class and then get down to business. However, our lunch order did not go through, and Professor Joseph was so disappointed that he dismissed us so that we could go eat. I’ve never seen so many students actually unhappy that a class was cancelled—we were all looking forward to our class today, in which we were going to discuss Tacitus’ Agricola, a work with which Professor Joseph has spent a lot of time on in his research. Ah, well, Friday’s class will hopefully make up for today!
Easter break was last Thursday-Monday, and despite a long and traffic-ridden ride down to Philadelphia with my dad, the break was much appreciated (especially because the weather in Philadelphia was divine). However, I was a bit anxious to get back up here because I have a long laundry-list of things I need to accomplish before the year is out. The ride back up here was a lot of fun, because my uncle came with us to see my cousin Kevin and his wife Amanda, who are expecting a baby in May. My dad, my Uncle Mike and I all hung out at their house Monday afternoon, ordered pizza, and relaxed before we all had to jump back into another work week.
Speaking of work week, I’m excited to report that I was recently named a Kimball captain! Last night I had my first official training session in Lower Kimball, where I have actually never worked…so that was quite the experience. My shift tomorrow actually has four CITs, or Captains in Training, so I’m pretty sure that my good friend and captain of two semesters, Colleen Curran, along with our other shift captain Will, are going to just leave all of the ‘captain-stuff’ to us. That’s fine with me, because I have to get all of these captain duties down before I jump into the leadership role by myself next year!
I’ve noticed so many perspective and accepted students visiting Holy Cross within the last couple weeks, and yesterday I actually had the opportunity to show a family around the Cross from my area. Doctor Bender, my archaeology professor, asked me to speak with and show around the youngest member of this family, a really sweet freshman named Kate—but I ended up giving their entire family, including two junior boys, a tour of campus. I had an absolute blast wandering around campus with them and answering all of their questions; I’m thinking that senior year I may actually want to become a tour guide myself. I always feel as if I am doing my duty to getting Holy Cross’ name out through this blog, but anything extra I can do is always a plus!
Off to office hours with Professor Joseph for my final Montserrat paper (in lieu of a final). The walk over should be enjoyable—the weather for the past couple days has been sunny and in the 50s. Spring fever is in the air! Valete!

Yesterday, I finally got to make use of the Consortium Shuttle for reasons other than exploratory trips to the Worcester Public Library—I went to visit my friend Jim at WPI! We’ve been trying to get together all year long, but because there is so much time in transit (the Consortium Shuttle is a one hour round trip) and my schedule is so spread out, there was no efficient way of getting there. However, because a class of mine was canceled, an entire window of time opened for me to go visit Jim.

It started off in a rush. Advising forms were due yesterday, and by the time I had gotten a signature, the time was 1:37 on my cell phone (which is always a minute off, for some reason). I dashed up to Hogan, and hurriedly pressed the elevator button in the hopes that the 1:36 bus had not already left. There were two very nice ladies in the elevator at the time, and when I breathlessly told them that I was headed towards WPI, they offered me a lift, as they both worked there. It was lovely of them to offer, but I declined, saying I’d wait until the next bus.

But lo and behold! The bus stop was packed with people with luggage waiting for the Consortium Shuttle to take them to Union Station. I hadn’t missed the bus after all. Collapsing on the steps, I had a brief chat with one of the WPI ladies, who happened to be a biotech professor, before the shuttle rolled in and I waved her a quick goodbye. Oh the adrenaline rush! After all the people who were going home were seated, there was exactly one seat left open for me.

I considered myself rather lucky.

A half an hour later, I called my friend, only to hear him answer his phone right behind me. It was a joyful reunion, and not only did I get a tour of their relatively flat campus, but I also got to try their dining hall cuisine (which is much like Holy Cross’) and watch bug-eyed at how good they are at math/science. It was insane, and made me feel rather good that I had chosen a liberal arts school. I feel that I would have missed the humanities far too much if I had gone to a place like WPI. Jim is in his element though, and I’m so happy that he found a pleasant niche at his school to be in.

It all had to end too soon, unfortunately, as 6 o’ clock came by and the last bus to leave WPI for Holy Cross came by. Jim and I watched it from the bus stop. It came up the driveway (we assume it took note of the numerous yellow school buses in its normal spot—there was a band function of some sort going on), backed up, and turned around, leaving two confused freshmen still standing at the bus stop.

Jim and I stood there for a moment before realizing it wasn’t coming back. We chased it down the drive, but alas, it got away. Luckily for me, my parents were coming up that night to pick me up for Easter break anyways, so I called them and asked if they could pick me up at WPI instead. I got an extra two hours to hang out with Jim, which were awesome. I even finally got around to learning Rummy!

At around 8 o’clock, my parents came to pick me up, and my heart racing adventure at WPI had come to a close.

I should totally visit again.

Advising is a lot like going to the doctor’s office—terrifying to think about, but pretty painless (and thankfully, unlike the doctor’s office, there is no chance of getting a shot). For awhile now, I’ve been schedule crazy, spending obscene amounts of time searching courses that don’t conflict with labs. I’ve been finding backup classes and backups for my backups. Ratemyprofessors.com has now become one of my favorite websites ever, and when it fails to find the professor I’m searching for, it does indeed make me weep a little on the inside.

Only a little.

For next year, I’ll hopefully be taking Genetics, Organic Chemistry (part two), Creative Writing: Nonfiction (at the urging of my Montserrat professor, and who knows, maybe it’ll teach me to write even better entries than the ones you must already love), and last, but not least, Introduction to Latin. My advisor nearly gave me a heart attack when he told me I had no free slots to take classes that I wanted to take for the sake of taking…but then we recounted and it turns out that I have seven free classes. And, because I am taking a second English class for the fun of it, I’m essentially taking the same courses as a bio pre-med student here. This means that for all of you looking into that means of study, yes, you will have slots open to take classes you want to take for fun.

In other news, I did not receive the position of Kimball Captain, but upon further thought, I’ve decided it’s quite alright, and I’m so happy for all the people that got promoted!  I’ll probably stick around Kimball next year, so perhaps I could even meet some of you lovely readers. And, if I’m lucky, you all won’t be bitter towards me for taking advantage of this blog to ramble about the daily occurrences of geeks (me) on campus.

I also finally met my fellow blogger, Melissa, for the first time last night! We were standing in line at Kimball together, and a mutual friend of ours said hello to me, which made Melissa realize who I was (alas, I am horrible with things like this, and would never have caught on that she was the Melissa). She was incredibly nice and we spent a few minutes in front of the silverware having a blogger-bonding moment. It was lovely.

Lastly, congratulations to everyone who got accepted to Holy Cross! As the applicant pool seems to grow every year, it was a tough decision for admissions to make, and you should all be proud of yourselves for getting this far. As I’ve mentioned before, definitely try and get a visit in (to all the places you’ve been accepted to) and see if you can imagine yourself there. Since you’ll be living the greater part of the year on campus, you might as well enjoy where you’re staying.

And please, don’t let the numerous Holy Cross stairs daunt you—they’re good for you!

That is, in my completely biased opinion…

Yesterday, I finally got to make use of the Consortium Shuttle for reasons other than exploratory trips to the Worcester Public Library—I went to visit my friend Jim at WPI! We’ve been trying to get together all year long, but because there is so much time in transit (the Consortium Shuttle is a one hour round trip) and my schedule is so spread out, there was no efficient way of getting there. However, because a class of mine was canceled, an entire window of time opened for me to go visit Jim.

It started off in a rush. Advising forms were due yesterday, and by the time I had gotten a signature, the time was 1:37 on my cell phone (which is always a minute off, for some reason). I dashed up to Hogan, and hurriedly pressed the elevator button in the hopes that the 1:36 bus had not already left. There were two very nice ladies in the elevator at the time, and when I breathlessly told them that I was headed towards WPI, they offered me a lift, as they both worked there. It was lovely of them to offer, but I declined, saying I’d wait until the next bus.

But lo and behold! The bus stop was packed with people with luggage waiting for the Consortium Shuttle to take them to Union Station. I hadn’t missed the bus after all. Collapsing on the steps, I had a brief chat with one of the WPI ladies, who happened to be a biotech professor, before the shuttle rolled in and I waved her a quick goodbye. Oh the adrenaline rush! After all the people who were going home were seated, there was exactly one seat left open for me.

I considered myself rather lucky.

A half an hour later, I called my friend, only to hear him answer his phone right behind me. It was a joyful reunion, and not only did I get a tour of their relatively flat campus, but I also got to try their dining hall cuisine (which is much like Holy Cross’) and watch bug-eyed at how good they are at math/science. It was insane, and made me feel rather good that I had chosen a liberal arts school. I feel that I would have missed the humanities far too much if I had gone to a place like WPI. Jim is in his element though, and I’m so happy that he found a pleasant niche at his school to be in.

It all had to end too soon, unfortunately, as 6 o’ clock came by and the last bus to leave WPI for Holy Cross came by. Jim and I watched it from the bus stop. It came up the driveway (we assume it took note of the numerous yellow school buses in its normal spot—there was a band function of some sort going on), backed up, and turned around, leaving two confused freshmen still standing at the bus stop.

Jim and I stood there for a moment before realizing it wasn’t coming back. We chased it down the drive, but alas, it got away. Luckily for me, my parents were coming up that night to pick me up for Easter break anyways, so I called them and asked if they could pick me up at WPI instead. I got an extra two hours to hang out with Jim, which were awesome. I even finally got around to learning Rummy!

At around 8 o’clock, my parents came to pick me up, and my heart racing adventure at WPI had come to a close.

I should totally visit again.

Advising is a lot like going to the doctor’s office—terrifying to think about, but pretty painless (and thankfully, unlike the doctor’s office, there is no chance of getting a shot). For awhile now, I’ve been schedule crazy, spending obscene amounts of time searching courses that don’t conflict with labs. I’ve been finding backup classes and backups for my backups. Ratemyprofessors.com has now become one of my favorite websites ever, and when it fails to find the professor I’m searching for, it does indeed make me weep a little on the inside.

Only a little.

For next year, I’ll hopefully be taking Genetics, Organic Chemistry (part two), Creative Writing: Nonfiction (at the urging of my Montserrat professor, and who knows, maybe it’ll teach me to write even better entries than the ones you must already love), and last, but not least, Introduction to Latin. My advisor nearly gave me a heart attack when he told me I had no free slots to take classes that I wanted to take for the sake of taking…but then we recounted and it turns out that I have seven free classes. And, because I am taking a second English class for the fun of it, I’m essentially taking the same courses as a bio pre-med student here. This means that for all of you looking into that means of study, yes, you will have slots open to take classes you want to take for fun.

In other news, I did not receive the position of Kimball Captain, but upon further thought, I’ve decided it’s quite alright, and I’m so happy for all the people that got promoted!  I’ll probably stick around Kimball next year, so perhaps I could even meet some of you lovely readers. And, if I’m lucky, you all won’t be bitter towards me for taking advantage of this blog to ramble about the daily occurrences of geeks (me) on campus.

I also finally met my fellow blogger, Melissa, for the first time last night! We were standing in line at Kimball together, and a mutual friend of ours said hello to me, which made Melissa realize who I was (alas, I am horrible with things like this, and would never have caught on that she was the Melissa). She was incredibly nice and we spent a few minutes in front of the silverware having a blogger-bonding moment. It was lovely.

Lastly, congratulations to everyone who got accepted to Holy Cross! As the applicant pool seems to grow every year, it was a tough decision for admissions to make, and you should all be proud of yourselves for getting this far. As I’ve mentioned before, definitely try and get a visit in (to all the places you’ve been accepted to) and see if you can imagine yourself there. Since you’ll be living the greater part of the year on campus, you might as well enjoy where you’re staying.

And please, don’t let the numerous Holy Cross stairs daunt you—they’re good for you!

That is, in my completely biased opinion…

Salvete, all!

The weather has finally taken a turn for the better, and the fact that I’m currently wearing flip-flops is a reassuring sign that the bitter cold of New England is slowly but surely lifting its grips on poor Mt. St. James. As I remember, right around this time of year last spring, all of my friends were frantically checking their mailboxes for those pesky college acceptance letters. However, since I had gotten into Holy Cross right before Thanksgiving of that year, I essentially was just trying to fight senioritis tooth and nail at this point (I’m thinking the senioritis won that battle). Besides my ramblings about my less-than-productive second semester senior year, I want to congratulate the newest accepted students to Holy Cross! In choosing Holy Cross, you’ll gain an enthusiastic, loving, encouraging student body to call your friends, engaged and insanely intelligent professors who actually want to get to know you, and one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. No competition, in my eyes!

As I’ve said time and time again, there are so many reasons why I chose to come to Holy Cross—mainly, the ones I listed above. The friends I have made here are a blast to be with, and most importantly, have passion and drive yet at the same time know when to just relax and lounge on Mulledy beach on a sunny Saturday. The main reason why I came to Holy Cross was for the amazing academics. As a classics major, I have access to leaders in the fields of classical archaeology, history, and ancient languages, and I make sure to pick the brains of each and every professor with whom I come into contact. And you know how I feel about the campus itself—every time I walk from Mulledy to Kimball for my shift at 7 a.m., I purposely take a route which allows me to see Fenwick with the sunrise playing around the golden crosses atop its towers.

I think that time really took on a sand-like quality this year. It feels as if the months have slipped silently through my fingers without me having noticed anything! I keep thinking that I was sitting at the Mass of the Holy Spirit on Move-In Day only a few weeks ago, or that I just took finals for fall semester. When I return from Easter Break, there are barely two weeks of classes left! I don’t want it to end!

Well, I finished a Montserrat essay early and choir is cancelled, so tonight I’ll have a nice, relaxing break after one of the busiest days I have ever had here. Great news is that tomorrow is CLASSICS DAY! Hundreds of students will be coming to compete in trivia (dubbed ‘certamen’), a costume contest, and even a chariot race. I will definitely be updating about that soon! Xairete!