Better Questions to Ask on Tours

     The May 1st deadline is quickly approaching. Open houses are every weekend. I know, you're probably just as panicked as I am about getting a real adult job. But it is ok. Just sit, calm down, it will all be fine. As you may (or may not know) I am a tour guide here at SMC. I think in my time here, I probably have given well over 200 tours in my four years. Giving tours is something I absolutely love doing, especially if students (and parents) come armed with questions. But as a tour guide, we tend to get the same question over and over again, but are those really the questions that you should be asking or are there better ones out there that will help you more in your college search? Well, I'm here to tell you that while your questions are always appreciated, there are definitely ones that are better than the ones that you are asking. Here are a few!

Instead of "Why did you choose (insert college name here)?" you should ask, "Why did you choose to stay?"
     This is honestly a question that I have never been asked on a tour, but one that I think speaks a lot more to the college in question. Sure, I can tell you my story of how I picked SMC out of the 12 other schools that I applied for, but more important than my original choice of Saint Mike's is the choice that I make every year to stay. Sure, people pick the wrong college all the time and transferring is really easy now, but for me to stay at one institution for all four years and be incredibly happy should tell you something about the school. It is a hard decision to pick a school, and often times it is really hard for a tour guide to explain why they chose the school they did. We all tend to say "we just knew" and we did, but that probably isn't the answer that you are looking for. So instead, I suggest that you ask why your tour guide decided to come back year after year.


Instead of "What is your favorite thing about (insert college here)?" you should ask, "What is your least favorite thing?"
     This question is a little more common, as I have gotten asked it numerous times, but I think that it is important. Just like the first one, it tells you what I like and don't like about the school. It is really hard for me to answer "what is your favorite thing" because chances are, if I have been here for four years, I enjoy a lot. It is really hard to narrow down on just one item. While the second question seems a little bit of a downer, it really helps perspective students get a sense of what to actually expect on campus. I can't list all my favorite things on my fingers and toes, I would need more appendages, but I can list all of my negatives on maybe 2 fingers. I think it gives your tour guide more of a focus. Also, everyone has different negatives, but chances are, tour guides all have the same positives.

To be 100% honest, my least favorite thing about SMC are the puddles. The 300's field (AKA my front yard) in mud season is actually the worst. Often times the puddles feel like this^^

Instead of "How much homework will I get?" you should ask "what was your favorite class, can you explain it?"
     Honestly, it is basically the same question, but the way that you are asking it is a lot different. Normally when people ask me about homework, I get a little frustrated. It is college after all, no one said it was going to be easy, so when someone asks me just about homework, it normally tells me two things:
            1. you don't have a plan of approach for schoolwork, AKA, you need to figure out your study habits ASAP.
            2. you are worried that you won't do well in college.
Not saying that either of these are bad, I certainly fell into both of these categories. But I did ok. All I have to say is that when you ask me about my favorite class, I am able to give you details and it makes me excited to talk about it. Personally, my favorite class that I have had was Race and Ethnic Relations with Maya Bhave. The class was challenging, with three 20 page papers plus exams and reading. While it was one of my hardest classes, I love talking about it. I think that asking this question allows you not only to get a sense of homework, but also how classes typically work.

     Finally, this one may seem pretty open, but one of my biggest pet peeves is when people ask me very broad questions. We are all guilty of it, I know that I definitely did it when I was touring colleges. It really helps to narrow down your questions that you plan on asking. This not only helps the tour guide figure out what to say in the time allotted while also catering the tour to your likes, but it also helps you get the information that you want to hear. So instead of asking a question like "what is there to do on the weekends?" you should really narrow in. Are you particularly interested in the sporting events on campus? Or about the wilderness program? Maybe you do want to ask the infamous question about the party scene. Whatever it is, ask it point blank. I promise that you will get an answer and it will answer the question, instead of answering all parts of the question except the one that you really wanted to hear about.

This is normally my face when someone asks me a question that could literally go in one million directions. Find a focus, it will not only help us to answer your question, but it will give you an answer to something that you really want to know about! 

     And that is all! I hope this helps when you are looking at colleges as that May 1st deadline approaches! Take advantage of all tour opportunities and Open Houses that you can! Ask all the questions that you really want to know! You can do this, I have faith in you!

P.S: KnightChat tomorrow! Register HERE!

Love,
Susanna

Questions? Comments? Just wanna say hey?
Email me HERE
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It's Actually Real (+ a little emotional rant)

     I never thought I would willingly go back onto crutches, but I did, I have. Let me tell you, this knee surgery sucks so much more than the first one. It is honestly so painful that I will opt back onto crutches, the pure demon sticks that they are, just to get rid of some of the pain that I have been feeling. To say it hurts doesn't even cut it. My knee is the size of a cantaloupe, it has massive incisions all down the sides and it is so discolored that if I were to draw myself with crayon I would most likely have to use bright shades of green, yellow and purple on my knee, as normal "skin tones" just wouldn't cut it. Granted, this was a much longer surgery and I opted to do it without strong medication but let me tell you, right now I wish I was back home in the comfort of my living room. Just walking to the computer lab and back today was painful. I told myself, I can do it, it is not too bad. Wrong. One awkward step and I got from feeling great to miserable. Nothing is wrong,  I haven't injured anything else, it's just that there is so much swelling that it is nearly impossible to move my leg normally, putting more strain on places that have to work to keep me moving. Essentially, my knee freaking hates me right now, and I don't blame it.
     To be honest, I didn't think it was real for the longest time. After my second surgery on Friday I actually felt great. I was up and moving around my house with very little pain and no crutches. I thought this recovery would be a breeze. I mean, I think (thought?) I heal pretty quickly but today it hit me, and it hit me hard. I hope that this won't be a set back. They say that the biggest part of recovery is your mental state, and let me tell you, right now my mental state is basically non-existent. I'm just drained. Between school and this surgery, I hurt, in more ways than one. Sure, I'm done with my senior seminar and I am beyond pleased with that, but I would have liked to enjoy it minus knee brace and crutches.
     I don't get homesick, heck I call Saint Mike's home. But right now I want nothing more than to be home. You don't really realize how much you miss home until you are in a situation like this. Sure, I'll stick it out and put on a happy face, but guys, it hurts. I sit in bed for hours with my knee up and with ice on it, hoping just for a little bit of relief and normalcy. It normally lasts for about 10 minutes and then goes back to pain. Even the simplest of tasks like walking to the door of my bedroom are hard because I can't move my leg correctly without pain. It drains you. It is so discouraging to live in fear of movement because you don't want the pain associated with it.
     Through it all, I keep thinking "why me" as many people have probably thought the same before. I think what did I do wrong? I replay the exact moment when I screwed up my knee for life over and over in my head just to see if there is something that I could have done differently to avoid the fate that I would succumb to. I think of what it was like to be "normal", one where walking into your kitchen to get a bite of food wasn't an internal struggle of convincing myself that yes, I am actually hungry and that yes, my hunger burns deeper than the pain I might feel in my leg. For a while I hated everything, especially rugby as it is what caused me this pain in the first place. I hated that after almost four years of playing uninjured I ended up with the kiss of death by athletes standards. I hated that I missed my shot at All-Conference, I hated that I wasn't able to play with my teammates one last time and I envied the people that made playing the game look so effortless while I struggled to even bend my knee. For a while I just wanted to shut off from it all. No more rugby for me, that was it. But in times of feeling like pure crap, I appreciated so many more parts of the game. I was able to put on a different hat and look at the game through a different angle. I now have the ability to be called a "coach", something that I didn't know was possible and probably wouldn't have known without this injury. It's an appreciation for all the crap that I put my body through for years. At times I thought my body literally hated me for making it play just one more minute in a game instead of staying down after a tackle, but for some reason I always got up from the ground, no matter how bad it hurt.  I think rugby is a game of resilience, and for me to call myself a rugby player, I have to be resilient. Sure, I miss it every single day and I cannot wait for the day that I can get back out there and play, but that won't be for a while. I think it is one of those things where I just have to roll with the punches and hand what life gives me. If life gives you multiple surgeries in a matter of months, you just have to take the scars, screws, crutches and random pieces of metal and roll with the punches.
     It hurts. It really does. And is this a long-winded rant while I am in a very emotional state? Yes of course. As for where I'm going with this, I'm not entirely sure. I thought about connecting it to SMC and how even though I'm far from home this place is still home, and it is, and I'm happy to have two places that I call home. I thought about really connecting this to rugby and how it has made me strong and tough and able to overcome everything, but then I didn't fully think it out and wasn't sure what I was using as a metaphor to compare things to. I thought about talking about my new appreciation for things no matter how small. I thought about talking about the injury in general and telling you all the nasty details, but then I didn't want to scar you for life. As you can tell, I really have no idea where this is going. It's late. I'm tired. My leg hurts. As for what else to say, I guess that just know that when you ask if I'm ok I will say yes, but deep down, it hurts like no other and just moving is a calculated process that I go through multiple times in my head before I even move an inch. It wasn't supposed to be this bad, but it is. But I'll be ok, because my drive to succeed is far more powerful than the pain that I feel in my leg. I'll get through it and I will do it with a smile on my face.

Love,
Susanna

Questions? Comments? Just wanna say hey?
Email me HERE
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2nd Time Around

     For those of you that don't know, I had my ACL repaired about 3 months ago. During my three month checkup, the doctor noticed a three inch long metal wire that was suspended in my knee. Unfortunately, it needed to come out before any more damage could be done. So, on Thursday I drove the 5 hours home from school in order to get surgery on Friday.
     My surgery was scheduled for 7:30am on Friday morning, meaning I had to be at the surgery center at 6:30am. I was told that it would be a quick surgery, only lasting about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, the piece of metal wire had broken in half within my knee. One piece of stuck in bone and the other was lodged in the back of my knee turning a quick surgery into a 6 hour long marathon to extract the wire. I honestly don't remember anything about yesterday as I was really drowsy from medications that I was given.
     Th pain is manageable. I am walking around without crutches (thank goodness, I hate crutches). My knee is extremely swollen and the bruising is starting to come in. I have 4 incisions, 2 small ones and two large ones on either side with a total of close to 20 stitches. Right now, I'm trying to take it easy. The stitches come out in 2 weeks and I should be right back to where I was in my recovery.
     While getting all these surgeries stinks, it has taught me to be strong and if I push through, I can accomplish anything. Right now I'm just focusing on getting better than I was before my first surgery to hopefully get back out on that rugby pitch one day. I wouldn't consider this a bad thing, I just see it was a learning experience. If I can get through this, I'm sure I can get through anything. (Plus, I kind of like the scars, it makes me look a lot tougher than i actually am haha).

Love,
Susanna

Questions? Comments? Just wanna say hey?
Email me HERE
Tweet tweet @shigosusanna 
Instagram @shigosusanna or @knightlifeVT
Snapchat @smcknights

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