Short Little Post

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Wadda Week

Hi all! This week has literally been insane. So I would inform you about everything that has been going on at this lovely place that I call home, well, not everything, just the interesting things.

     On Wednesday I got the opportunity to go on a little field trip of sorts. For my first year seminar we went to see How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel at UVM. That is one of the reasons why I love SMC. Here, your teachers make the effort to take you outside of the classroom to experience things that have to do with stuff that you are learning. I enjoy that. Before the play, I went to dinner at my good friend Kate's house in South Burlington. Her family was super nice and welcoming and made a delicious dinner! It was nice to have a home cooked meal and I am thankful that they invited me over.

(the view of the back drop from our seats!)

 

     Throughout the week I had rugby. I can honestly say that I am in love with the sport. It is so much fun to play and to watch. Yesterday, we had our first away game. How exciting is that?! We traveled the 5 hours on a bus to get to Bryant in Rhode Island. While the bus ride was long, it was a fun one. For the first couple of hours, everyone was asleep. And when I say asleep, I mean a massive natural disaster could not even wake us up. When we got closer to Bryant, the upperclassmen started playing pump up music and we were all getting ready, dancing and singing. I got to see my family and meet a lot of people's family as well. Our fan section was much bigger than Bryant's and WE were the traveling team. Our A side won and it was a fantastic game! Next the B side was up to play (the side I am on) and we were all pretty nervous but we knew what we had to do. We went out there and kicked some major butt! We also won! It was a fantastic experience and I cannot wait until next week!

(4 of the girls from my hallway also play rugby!)

(Prop hand shake)

(our sleeping team.)

 

     That is about it for my week, or at least the stuff I can actually remember. HAHA. I promise there will be more to come about this wonderful place. Don't worry, I will keep you updated on everything!

Love and lots of sleep,

Susanna

 

^^What am I listening to?^^

Food Food Food

     Two posts in 1 week and with a short amount of time between the two?! What is happening to the world?! Yes! I am posting yet again! So I have been getting a lot of questions (mainly from my family) about the food here at SMC. So I figured I would write this post to answer all of them.

     On campus, we have one main dining hall called The Green Mountain Dining Hall (inside Alliot, most people just call it Alliot). This dining hall serves 3 meals a day and is open pretty much all day. As a freshman at SMC, you get an unlimited meal plan. That basically gives you as many swipes a day into the dining hall as you would like. So if you want a cup of coffee before class, you can run over to Alliot quick, swipe in, fill up your cup and then walk out. It is pretty great.

Monday - Friday
Breakfast..............................7:15 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Continental.........................10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Lunch...................................11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
"Lite" Lunch............................2:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Dinner.....................................4:45 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Saturday & Sunday
Continental..............................8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Brunch.................................11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Dinner.....................................4:45 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

     Now for the food. I am not a picky eater. There are somethings I do not like, but for the most part, I will eat anything. Now, I will say that no matter where I eat, nothing will be better than a home cooked meal by my mom and dad (hi mom and dad!). But for the most part the meals here are good.

     At breakfast they always have bagels, fruit, some kind of hot breakfast, oatmeal, cereal, an egg station, pastries and yogurts. At the egg station, you can order any omelet or type of eggs you want. I have to admit, I have yet to experience the egg station because there is always a massive line there whenever I decide that I want eggs. I normally end up with a bagel or cereal (lucky charms :). There is also coffee/tea/hot coco and juice all day.

     At lunch, they take away the bagels, pastries, hot breakfast and the egg station. They replace those with a salad bar, sandwich bar, grill, hot lunch option, soup, pasta, pizza and a stir-fry station. I will say that all of these are great! They normally have a ton of options. Some people tend to get sick of it all, but when you go here you just have to learn how to mix and match. Say you want stir fry but they don't have a bunch of vegetables that you want. Well grab some corn, peppers and tomatoes from the salad bar and give them to the chef and BAM, insta amazing meal. It is just so easy to find something that you want to eat.

    Dinner is basically the same as lunch except they tend to have different foods. It is just all good. Also here, they have a ton of vegan and vegetarian options and they will accommodate to any requests.

     During lunch and dinner hours, they also have a dessert bar which is both heavenly and cruel at the same time. This is where self control really comes in handy. All the desserts are awesome! Plus they have a soft serve machine and hard ice cream available all the time!

     Some of my favorites are:

Breakfast- toasted bagel with cream cheese and cinnamon sugar. But if they have veggie cream cheese, I am all over that! It is great! Also, the homefries are really good.

Lunch- Taco salad is great! Highly recommend. I also really enjoy the stir fry because I LOVEEE anything salty and just yummy. Oh, and smiley fries. Yes, we are a college and we still have smiley fries, what is better than that?!

 

Dinner- Lately I have been going for the pasta station after rugby practice. I normally get a small bowl with whatever sauce they have. I find my self going to this station because the line moves quickly, therefore I can eat faster.

Dessert: Cheesecake. That will be all.

To Drink: I am a coffee drinker, so I enjoy coffee. But the hot coco is good as well as all the soft drinks. I recommend the Strawberry Kiwi drink (I think it is strawberry kiwi, but I could be wrong) What ever it is, it is a lime green drink, kinda weird, I know. But it tastes really good.

Stay away from: 3 cheese anything. Just don't do it. I think that is all that I wouldn't recommend. Everything is pretty good!

 

Thank ya for reading!

Love and food,

Susanna

 

What am I listening to?

 

Things You Should Probably Know....

Hola amigos! That is pretty much the extent of my Spanish vocabulary after a tiresome day of classes, sorry to disappoint. But wow, it really has been a while since I have actually written a blog post. Once again, things have been NUTS here. Between classes, homework, rugby practice and a social life, things get pretty crazy. But I am finally writing another blog! YIPPIE. Anywho, after thinking up possible ideas for a blog post, I finally decided on a topic. Being from Connecticut, things in Vermont are a little bit different. So I decided to inform you on a few things you should know before coming to SMC.

 

1. Creemees. Not Soft Serve: This was new to me. In Connecticut, we say soft serve. But here in Vermont, they say creemee. When I first heard this I was all like "what the actual......who actually says that" But trust me. People do say it and people expect you to say it too. Once you step foot in Vermont, you do not say soft serve in public. You say creemee. OH! and while you are here, you better get a maple creemee. They are seriously heavenly.

(deeeeeeeelish)

 

2. Alliot. No, not Al-lee-ot. AL-LEE-OHHH. Please, please please never say it the first way. People here will look at you funny if you say it like that. Alliot is our dining hall/ student center. The dining hall is inside and its real name is the Green Mountain Dining Hall, but everyone just calls it Alliot. This is where you can see bunches of people and eat a lot of food. I mean, what is better than that?!

 

3. Squirrels: In my entire life time I have never seen squirrels as fearless as the ones here. I'm serious. First, they are MASSIVE. And when I say MASSIVE, I mean MASSIVE. Second, they are not afraid of you in any sense. Say if you are just sitting on the quad reading over your macroeconomics notes from class yesterday while eating a Cliff bar, a squirrel will literally just walk right up to you and take it. I'm dead serious. It is petrifying.

 

4. Planes: There is a military base right near the Dunkin Donuts and Cumby's down the street. There are massive fighter jets going over campus ALL THE TIME. And let me tell you, they are loud! When they go over me when I am outside, I am literally scared for my life because they are so loud. But look on the bright side, at least we are safe!

 

5: 1's, 2's, 3's and 4's: These are what most people call the townhouses. These buildings are where the upperclassmen (mainly seniors) live. They are really called the 100's, 200's, 300's and 400's, but most people refer to them as their first number. It just makes life easier.

(the 200's)

 

6: First year dorms: It is pretty much exactly as it sounds. WHEN you decide to come to SMC (see what I did there :) you will get a massive book in the mail with your new student handbook. In there it goes over the dorms that are available for the freshmen. Those dorms are Lyons, Ryan and Joyce. In the book, they lie. They say that the largest dorm rooms are in Ryan. FALSE. Well not really. They may be the biggest but they do not seem that way. In Ryan, the closets are actual physical closets. In Lyons and Joyce, they are big blue built-ins. Plus in Lyons and Joyce, we have shelves which are not in the rooms in Ryan. Also, I feel like there is much more space in Lyons and Joyce.

(the shelves in my room)

 

Well there you go! I am sure that as my time progresses here at SMC, there will be many more posts like this one! Let me know what you think and if you have any questions about my life here at SMC!

Love and pumpkin spice lattes,

Susanna

 

What am I listening to?

 

 

The Simple Things- take 2

 

Hi all! How has life been? I hope it has been fabulous. Again, like in my last post, I must take the time to apologize my lack of posting recently. I have an exam on Friday as well as a massive homework assignment due that day as well. Next week I happen to have 2 exams and a project due. So needless to say, I have been busy. And on top of all that you have to add in rugby practice and games plus a social life. SO HARD. But, I am surviving. So this little post is just to share some more of the wonderful perks of becoming a student at SMC.

     Yesterday it was oh so rainy and gross here at SMC. But, I cannot really complain. Since I have been here, the weather has been BEAUTIFUL. So I guess one rainy day really is not that bad. But, the rainy days are even pretty. The clouds look so cool and, I don't know about you, but I actually really enjoy the rain.

(this picture does not even do it justice how disgusting it was yesterday. It was windy, cold and rainy all in the same day.... YUCK.)

 

     Like in my previous post about the simple things, the sunsets here are absolutely breath-taking. Like seriously. They really do not get any better than here. This picture taken below was basically the view outside my window. OUTSIDE MY WINDOW. You mean, you get to see this every night??? YES, Yes I do, and I love it.

(how pretty is that?!)

 

     People in Vermont always seem to have the best since of humor....

(ha.ha.ha. WhoKilledBambi)

 

     Another cool place I discovered on campus is the art gallery in McCarthy Arts. The gallery is right when you walk in the doors. I was exploring (yet again) with a friend the other day and we stumbled upon it. It was amazing. The pieces in there right now are fabulous. My favorite had to be this painting.

(Painted by Dustin Bell '13)

 

     Last but not least, I find it necessary to mention the beautiful days seeing as I mentioned the bad days. Most days here at SMC are absolutely amazing. So amazing that my floor and I tend to sit outside on the quad with blankets and do our homework. Hopefully soon enough the massive fence will be taken away from in front of the library so we can have more space to do our work.

 

What am I listening to?

 

Weekly Update

     Hey there! Sorry for the lack of posts recently, it has been mighty crazy here at SMC.

     I have been preparing for 3 exams that will occur later in this week--- currently FREAKING OUT. My first college exams, my does time fly. But all of my classes are going really well. And last week in my first year seminar my teacher brought his dog in and my goodness do I love dogs! She was adorable!

(Daisy the Schnoodle)

 

     I also took my first trip to the word garden. I know, you are probably thinking, "Susanna, it is literally a 2 minute walk from your room, why haven't you gone sooner?" Well, to answer that question, I am not really sure. I just haven't had enough time I guess. But, I finally went this week and I think I have found my new favorite place on campus. The word garden is a rock garden with words on the rocks. You can move them to make sentences or phrases of whatever you may be feeling at that moment. It is super cool!
 

 (words in the word garden)

 

     The construction project has really been coming along. Lately, the workers have been working a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean, A LOT. Some days they start early, at like 7 and work really late, to about 6. They were even working yesterday and I am pretty sure I can hear them outside my window right about now. But I assume it is to get the shell of the building done before it starts to snow, that way they won't be dealing with that added element.

      I have been playing rugby 5 days a week now, and I think I am finally getting the hang of it. We had our first game yesterday and the coach promised that all the new players will be getting playing time, can you say SCARY! I was soooooooo nervous, especially since the older girls said that the team we were up against was fairly good. I went in and did well (I guess). I made a few tackles (so cool) and I got tackled, but all in all it was a great experience and I cannot wait for the rest of the season!

     Hopefully this week will be a good one, I'm not expecting any less! Hopefully my exams go well and we win our first season game on Saturday! GO MIKE'S!

     I am really loving it here.

(signs in our bathroom stalls, just another reason why I love it here!)

 

     Love and laundry, because laundry is what I am planning on doing today.

Susanna

    

What am I listening to?

 

Cream Cheese Woes

Today is a super busy day and it has already started off fairly bad. I woke up at 8:25 for my 9:45 class. That normally gives me enough time to get ready and head out the door to go to breakfast at 9 with a few other girls on my floor. Well, this morning I also had to print out a paper for my class. So, after I was done getting ready, I hit print on my computer and sent my paper to the printer. I started my decent from the 4th floor down to the second floor lounge to retrieve my paper from the printer. Well, there was no paper. Great. So I headed over to Alliot to print it there. I got there, scanned my I.D. and waddyaaa know, its not in the print que. Great, just lovely. So I head into the Green Mountain Dining Hall and scarf down half of a bagel with veggie cream cheese (one of my high points of today) and the RUN back up to my room to RE-PRINT my paper. Time check? 9:20. Lovely. So I press print then sprint back to Alliot to print it. It prints then I have to RUN to Jean-Marie to my Macro class. That is done and now I am sitting on my bed, typing this before I have to complete my mound of homework before the first Founders meeting of the year and rugby practice. SO MUCH TO DO. But I am assuming since today started off fairly badly that the rest of the day can only go up from here, right? I mean, at the Founders meeting there is BYOB (bring your own bowl) Ice Cream Sundaes. Will post more later in the week!

Love and sappy love songs,

Susanna

What am I listening to???