A Country Girl in the City: my life at Saint Peter's College
October 22, 2008
Final Blog
Final Blog
Hey! So much has happened since I last blogged. Here’s a short re-cap of my life after graduation.
This past summer I was in Montana on the farm chilling with Mom and studying for my first section of the CPA exam. I took the first exam (of four) in August and I have since found out that I passed! I’m since taken another one and have yet to find out the results.
At the beginning of September I moved to Minneapolis, MN. My roommate is a student at the University of Minnesota and we live right across the river from downtown Minneapolis. We live on a cobblestone street called Saint Anthony Main with restaurants, a theatre, coffeeshops, etc. on it and we’re just a stone’s throw away from the Stone Arch Bridge- a former railroad bridge that has since been converted into a pedestrian-only bridge. In the summer it will be nice to bike to work. Here is a picture of the bridge and of downtown.
When I first moved I didn’t have a car. I had never needed one in Jersey City. The weather was beautiful for awhile and everything was fine. Then one Monday when I was getting ready for work it was pouring and I thought I was going to have to take a cab to work. That morning I decided to buy a car, and that Wednesday afternoon someone from work said, “You should get a Minicooper. That would be fun.” Wednesday night, I bought one. I love my Mini.
Work itself is going well so far. I started at Deloitte Tax LLP a few weeks before a huge deadline so I got to experience a little bit of the craziness that is busy season. Deloitte’s office is only about 2 miles from where I work. I really like the people I work with and there are lots of young people around. I’m learning a lot every day.
My younger brother Kevin is going to college about 5 hours from Minneapolis and he got to visit last weekend. I got to hear his crazy college stories. (Mom, if you’re reading this, they weren’t THAT crazy) I took him for a cruise in the Mini, showed him some of Minneapolis. We went bowling, shopping, visited friends, and had all-around great weekend. Here are some pictures from Cosmic Bowling.
Yesterday I went with Amy to the New Kids On The Block concert. Natasha Bedingfield opened for them. We were in a suite, which was fun. I like Natasha’s music, and I have to admit the New Kids were pretty entertaining. I had never listened to their music prior to a few days before the concert, and didn’t realize what a big deal they were back in their day. I have never seen so many 30 year old women in one place in my entire life! Here are the "kids."
Also. . . . some pictures from the Vikings vs. Detroit Lions game on Oct. 12. I didn’t like the picture with me in it, so instead you are stuck with the picture of the Lions and Vikings as they battle it out in the end zone. The Vikings won, but the game was closer than it should have been.
It’s surreal to me that this is my last blog. I have been sharing my experiences on the Saint Peter’s College website since I was a sophomore in college. My life has changed so much in that time, as it should. Four and a half years ago I had no idea where I wanted to do my undergrad. I signed a letter of intent to go to a small school in North Dakota and at the last minute I pulled out and decided to go to Saint Peter’s. Looking back I think I made the right choice.
Although I have since moved to Minnesota, I will forever be a part of the SPC community. There’s something special about the place that will stick with me forever.
It’s been a pleasure sharing my story with you. I wish you all the best. As for me. . . . . Ciao!
I'm a little late on this one. . . .but it's true. I'm a graduate. I feel like I should hear fireworks and thunder when I say that. Now "real life" begins. . . . or so they say. :) Graduation was at the beautiful outdoor venue of the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ. My brother David and sister-in-law, Aaron, came up for the event. David even got to experience some fun NJ traffic as we drove our rental care to graduation.
Here are the 3 SENIORS!!
The Roomies. . . . I'm going to miss these girls. We're already planning for reunion: 2009.
Here is a pic of a bunch of friends and I at the Delaney Reception before graduation. We were officially inducted as alumni of Saint Peter's College.
Lastly, a picture of some of the seniors who enjoyed our picnic in Liberty State Park.
So what am I up to now? I'm studying for the CPA Exams all summer. . . and work starts for me at Deloitte in Minneapolis on Sept. 22nd. I can't wait! It's been so much fun blogging over the past 3 years and sharing my experiences here at SPC! Enjoy your summer!
The end of the semester is only a few days away, and our senior class has putting on some great events to send the seniors out with a bang. We started last Tuesday with Jr/Sr. Formal. There were around 280 tickets sold for the event which was held in Verona, NJ at the Richfield Regency. It was a beautiful location combined with great music and friends. It was a fun time.
Here is a picture of the big group- we all sat together at the same table.
Here are some of my friends and I at the dance- from left to right we have Evgeniya (Jenny), Megan, Tricia, Priscilla, me, and Jolie.
Brandon and I
Last night was the senior cruise around Manhattan- complete with the natural beauty of the Manhattan and New Jersey Skylines. We basically went up and down the Hudson for a couple of hours with the SPC class of 2008. There was a DJ on the boat. . . he would be playing hip-hop and then would switch to eighties music like he though this was a normal transition. Haha. It was pretty funny.
Andrea Contreras shot this picture of me with the skyline in the back- I’ll get a group picture up as soon as my friends start putting them up on Facebook. Until that happens, you’re stuck with looking at a picture of just me. ;)
My chronological order in this blog is severely off, because next I’m going to tell you about Priscilla’s Birthday. It was May 2nd- so two Friday’s ago we went to McFadden’s- a bar in the city. . . . . after cake, of course. Megan made cake for Pris and another friend who used to go to SPC who was in Jersey City for their twin-birthdays- both on May 2nd.
Here we are in our apartment—after the group finally decided to shut off Rock Band. Megan was in the next room yelling, “Shut it off!!” They kept playing for a minute or two because no one realized it was either sing Happy Birthday or the cake was about to start on fire. They were having too much fun.
And in the train station on the way to McFadden’s. . . . we make that train station look. . . . .. . . . .. hot! Happy Bday Pris!
Lastly- a little more than a week ago we had our Pavo Society Ambassador goodbye dinner at Bertucci’s, an Italian restaurant on the Jersey City waterfront. The dinner, combined with helping out at the Sneak Peak event yesterday were my last two events as a Pavo. It’s been a great 3 years with the Society.
I need to sign off for now- I have two finals tomorrow and two on Tuesday. My stress level is a little out of control right now. Soon I’ll be mailing my stuff home in boxes to myself and tying up all the loose ends. It’s going to be a busy next week until Graduation. My brother David is coming on Friday and his wife Aaron on Saturday. I can’t wait!!
The past few weeks have been absolutely beautiful and it appears Spring has arrived! My friend Gina and I have gone to Hoboken the past couple of weekends to study at Panera, "sunbathe" in the park, and just to all-around enjoy the sunshine!
This time of year brings a huge wave of activities and classwork as well. Last week Megan and I took time out from everything to enjoy the show Young Frankenstein on Broadway. One of our fellow bloggers, Clinton Kennedy, is an usher at the show so we got to see him in his cute little bell boy-ish uniform. Our seats were really great. They were the box seats on the second level on the very front. Megan Mullally, as you may know, is featured in the play and her performance is vibrant . . . or maybe it was those bright-colored magenta and red outfits she was wearing. It was a good show.
This last Saturday was our Spring Open House. The sun was shining as my fellow Pavo's and I bustled around giving tours, directions, sharing experiences, and all those great things we do at Open House. Here are the roomies and I at open house: Megan, me, Jolie, and Jenny. Megan gave a speech so please excuse the mis-colored outfit she is wearing :)
I'm back from Spring break and getting back into the swing of things. . . . I went to Toronto, Ontario for Easter to visit Jamie and his family. Jamie was one of my good friends from when I studied abroad in Hong Kong. It was so much fun to see him again and meet his family. . . . and of course to get pictures . .. . . . finally!
Jamie's dad is originally from Lebanon. . . . . the family cooks many Lebanese dishes that I got to try. Tabouli. . .Hummus. . . lamb. . . . yum! Here are is a picture of me with the fam. . . . . (L to R) Jamie's mom, Older brother, me, Jamie, and his younger sister. His dad is missing from this picture.
Jamie's house is literally right next to downtown and a great location to walk around and see the "sights" of Toronto. We went to Chinatown to a dim sum restaurant and reminisced about old times and enjoyed the Cantonese food I really haven't had since I left Hong Kong.
This picture is from the top of the CN tower towards downtown Toronto. I forgot how COLD Canada can be. . .. . eh? Oh, those Canadians are so nice and they have this adorable little accent, all of them. It was quite a relaxing Easter.
After Easter, I came back to good old Jersey City. I was planning on being productive and getting lots of piled up classwork done, but instead I ended up last-minute babysitting alot for a few families I babysit for and . . . oh. . . . . sleeping.
I can't believe graduation is just right around the corner! It's on May 18th, only about 6 weeks away. I try not to think about it too much, as it can be a little depressing thinking how many of these people I just may never see again. HA! . .. . . aren't I a bummer? It's amazing looking back at the friendships I have developed over the last 4 years and thinking how all of us have changed so much! I was looking the other day at a couple of old Facebook pictures of people I know as we were hanging out together as freshman at Saint Peter's. . . . It's unreal to think that we really used to look and act like we did!
Anyway. . . those are just musings of a nastalgic Senior. Now.....back to work.
An important part of my experience at Saint Peter's College has been being able to share what I have done here with others. As you may remember, I studied abroad last Spring in Hong Kong. When I came back I met a freshman in the Pavo Society who was interested in going to Hong Kong and I was able to speak with him and share some ideas. Brandon is writing his own blog, check it out!
I'm a little embarrassed at how long it's been since I wrote. . . but here goes!
My friend Alice who I met in Hong Kong came up two weekends ago and we had lots of fun. She's going to work for Deloitte in NYC so we went around and saw lots of the city. One night we went to Comic Strip Live. . . . . the comedy club where Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld got their start. We really did alot and here are some of the pictures. . .
This is the Logo for the comedy club. . . www.comicstriplive.com
The girls at South Street Seaport.
Kissing Matt Lauer at the NBC Store. . . Scandalous, I know.
Candles at Saint Patrick's Cathedral
It's the Moon. . . . . .whaaat??? Oh, and there's Saint Patricks' Cathedral right next to the moon.
Midterms are coming up soon and before you know it we will have Easter break! My senior year is going well. My 22nd birthday was a day after my last blog (Jan. 30th) and it was great. My roommates (Megan, Jolie, Jenny) made me a yummy carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It was seriously the best cake I've ever eaten and I'm pretty much in love with carrot cake so. . . yeah they scored major points for that one. Thanks roomies ! :)
I just returned from an amazing weekend in State College, PA visiting a friend who I haven’t seen for eight years! That really makes me feel old. Rachel Fye and I attended junior high together in Wolf Point and she is currently attending Penn State. I went over on Friday night via “Chinatown bus��? which is basically a cheap, nonstop (though sometimes rickety) non-stop bus ride from Chinatown in NYC to State College. It only took four hours, and I’m embarrassed I didn’t visit her sooner.
It was great to see Rachel again. We stayed up until 3 am Saturday morning talking about old times and new. Rachel had to be to work Saturday morning teaching skiing lessons at a small slope only ten minutes from State College. I went along for love of skiing (not because I’m good, that’s for sure) and in between lessons Rachel and I were able to ski together. The rest of the time I was roaming around by myself. We got some great fresh air, but by the end of the day we were exhausted from the previous night’s gabbing marathon. After grabbing some delicious Thai food and an impromptu tour around her (huge!!) campus, we went to bed early. This is us down at the bottom of the ski hill.
Sunday at church I got to meet Rachel’s boyfriend Matt and then we enjoyed a delicious dinner at her grandparents’ house where we were staying. Here is a picture of the crew, minus Matt who was elected as the picture-taker.
Monday morning I slept in while Rachel went to class, and then she and Matt picked me up for the ride to the train station. On our way there we drove through some Amish country and checked out the horses and buggies and then we finally had to say our goodbyes at the train station.
I took the Amtrak train into Newark and arrived in Journal Square just in time to catch up with fellow SPC volunteers headed to the Hoboken Shelter for the homeless to help serve the evening meal. I haven’t done that before, and I would encourage anyone to volunteer at a shelter. The people were thanking us and everyone was very appreciative of our efforts. It was humbling.
Tonight my roommates and I have a reservation at Tavern on the Green as part of NYC’s Restaurant Week. The Tavern is a famous restaurant located in Central Park and you can check it out at www.tavernonthegreen.com. This week there is a huge promotional event offering set meals at many of New York City’s finest dining establishments in order to promote restaurants throughout the city. I’ll be sure to tell you about the experience in my next blog.
I think that is a good synopsis of what I’ve been up to lately. Besides that, I’m fighting a nasty cold. Everyone will do well to stay an arm’s length away. :)
Today was only the second day of classes after a glorious month of Christmas vacation! I spent my time at home and celebrated the holidays with my immediate family (minus the older brother- he was in Denver with his wife)--and it was extremely relaxing! I also got to spend some time with my best friend Maria who will be spending next summer teaching at an Arts school in India. How exciting!
I had a lot going on while I was home to keep from certain boredom. I was substitute teaching again for the local elementary school. It's a good part time job to have over break, and of course the kids are a lot of fun. I also started a painting project and finished a few rooms in our house to brighten them up from their previous color of hospital white.
Boy. . . was I ever ready to come back to school! It's been so good seeing everyone again. I have been doing my usual babysitting jobs in the city and tomorrow I will attend most of my classes. I only had one today and yesterday. I"ll be sure to post a picture on my next blog. Happy New Year everyone!!
This was one crazy and fun weekend, Saturday was our very successful Open House. I was one of two student speakers who were trying to give prospective freshman an idea of what Saint Peter's is like. The other student speaker was Frank, a freshman from Philadelphia who's just at the beginning of his college career. Apparently I was there to represent the "old person" perspective. :) We had so many families show up and it was a bit cold, but not too bad and I also got the chance to give a couple tours. I felt like I haven't been able to do that for such a long time I was actually nervous about it. Here's the video from Youtube:
Right after Open house the roommates and I (Jolie, Megan, and Jenny) hopped in Meg's car and we drove to Philly. When we got to the Temple University Sports Arena to pick up our numbers for the race the following day, Jolie and I hopped out of the car and picked up numbers for everyone because traffic was crazy and parking was nonexistant. We got the numbers and split up. I was staying at a hotel and the roommies were staying with a friend.
I met up with Steve and Amy. . . . (my training buddies from Minneapolis, remember?) at the Expo. Of course I had seen them just a few weeks earlier for Amy's NYC marathon and they came to watch mine. After picking up my number and my nice "free" shirt I payed for with my $90 entrance fee, we headed to the hotel for a nice big pasta dinner! I have never eaten so much in one day and not felt one bit guilty, that's for sure. I ate so much on Saturday that I was sick of pasta and power bars, and it was all I could do to eat one more on Sunday morning a few hours before the start of the race.
The Race started at 7am in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum, famous for it's part in the Rocky movie. . . . and maybe for some fine art, too?? But mostly for a famous scene in the Rocky movie. haha. It was about 35 degrees and slightly rainy when the race started a little after 7 am.
So. . . . what did I experience during the race? It was definitely beautiful since the course winded through some very scenic parts of Philadelphia. Well, it was raining pretty hard midway through the race, but it felt good to me. My ipod was vital because I was pretty bored within a mile or two. My goal at the start was 4 hours and 30 minutes which would have been just a little slower than 10 minute miles. The crowd was great, nothing like having a bunch of people being so encouraging along the sidelines.
At mile 13 I was feeling pretty good, so I sped up quite a bit from my 10 minute mile pace. . . I thought that the runners were veering off into the parks for a nice view that I was missing, then quickly realized they had found a quick alternative to waiting in line for the port-o-potties. That was a little weird. At mile 18 I felt pretty good because I passed the 4 hr 15 minutes pace team and then one mile later. . . . I realized why people say marathons are difficult.
So, the last 7.2 miles it was a matter of zoning out, ignoring my lead legs, and trying to keep up a 10 minute mile pace til the finish. My plans of speeding up were gone and my goal at this point was to finish the race in 4 hrs. 15 minutes. . . . . which I did!! My time was 4 hrs. 14 minutes and 27 seconds. Here's me after I finished. . . . . that smile was painful.
Amy and Steve where there to cheer me on, and I was so happy to have them at the end of the race because I was wobbling. They are pretty much awesome. Monday was tons of fun because we went touring around Philly on a trolley and we checked out some of the historic sights from inside the trolley. .. . . it was cold!
The roomies were impressive themselves, as they all finished the 8k which started soon after the marathon start! I'm so proud of them!
