The Last Day of School

Mary wrapping her Secret Santa gift

Our wrapped Secret Santa gifts

Today was the last day of school… It is the last day of school? It is so weird to think about because it feels like just yesterday I was at orientation dancing in a pit of bubbles and tossing eggs. So much has happened in the past four months and I don’t really know a good way to sum it up. I think the best way may be to just tell you what I am doing right now. I just finished doing an hour and a half of P90X yoga with a bunch of my friends in the basement of Corcoran (my residence hall) and now we are all sitting around and getting ready to watch the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. It all seems so natural. I feel as if I have known these people all my life and I can’t imagine being anywhere else in this moment. I feel like I am at home. For this reason, I know Rockhurst was the absolute best choice I could have made when deciding on a school. There are only about 2500 undergrad students and the small number has made all the difference. I see many of the same people every day and we have all become a family. I even feel a sense of community with the people I see in the halls because they always send smiles my way. Although I have never attended a large university, I know this same experience could not be had at one.

Watching Return of the King in the basement [:

The Rockhurst community does not only include the students. The faculty and staff are essential to the success of the university. Rockhurst would not be the same without leaders such as Bill Kriege, Assistant Director of Campus Ministry, or Rev. Thomas Curran, President of Rockhurst University. Their presence inspires students to enjoy their time at school and make the most of every opportunity. These two men are often in the back of my mind as I go through the motions on campus. They have worked so hard to make this campus what it is now and I would not want to ruin that by not living up to their high standards. I would only want to enhance the experience for other students in everything I do. Just being on campus has transformed me. It has been such a nurturing environment spiritually, academically, and socially since day one. I thank God every day for everything Rockhurst has already done for me and will do over the next three and a half years.I hope that one day I can find a way to repay the enormous debt.

Thanksgiving

Mock-ugly sweater

I had been pretty excited for Thanksgiving for the past couple weeks. Finals are just about to begin, so I needed a break. In addition to that, my family is all off work, so I have had the chance to spend more time with them than I generally did during fall break. The ride home was fun because I was with a friend that I had not spoken to a lot since the first couple weeks of school. I had initially been a little disappointed when we began to drift apart, but not that I have had time to chat with him, I see why we did. He is much more into the part scene than I, and that is ok. He is still fun and interesting to talk to. We just may not hang out as often anymore.

Once I got home, all of my time was pretty much spent doing homework, eating, and shopping (and don’t worry. There wasn’t too much homework). Teachers at Rockhurst are pretty good about not assigning a lot of homework over breaks. It is a little difficult for Thanksgiving though because finals are a week away. As for the eating, let’s just say that I have a family full of very talented chefs, so the food was delicious. It was so good that I struggled to refrain from loosening my belt to keep going. I’m sure everyone has those one or two foods that they look forward to around this time of year. For me those items are crescent rolls, leftover turkey sandwiches, and cherry pie. I love the leftover sandwiches so much that I have had three of them in the past 24 hours. I have no shame [:

My bro finishing the cherry pie

Dad's caramel brownies!

If you are about to become a college student in the next year or so I hope you will let me offer this small piece of advice. Make sure you take advantage of your breaks. Universities, including Rockhurst, schedule them very strategically. They place them exactly when they know everyone will need a break or need some family time. You family will be excited to see you so go home and spend time with them. Chances are you will enjoy yourself too. I know I have never appreciated my family so much as I do now that I am in college. I never realized how much I took their presence for granted.

Amanda's Birthday

Making a birthday wish!

Finals are just around the corner and everyone has been stressing out about something. There are papers, tests, and projects coming out of the woodwork and it can all seem overwhelming at times. All that this means is as soon as there is the possibility for fun or a break people snatch it up as fast as possible.

Amanda's birthday was a few days ago, so a bunch of the girls from the hall got together for dinner at Dave and Buster’s to celebrate. If you have never been, I would highly recommend it. The food is delicious and the games are fun for everyone. It sort of reminds me of an adult Chuck E Cheese… but much cleaner and there are not any creepy dancing animals.

Amanda and her roomie!

The night began back at the dorms. All of the girls were talking about it because we have all been pretty stressed from preparing for finals, so we needed a girls’ night out. The moment we got in the car, the music went on and we all started singing. The songs were all ones I had completely forgotten about from the late 90’s or early 2000’s, but I somehow managed to remember all the words to every single one. It was the perfect way to start the night because it got me pumped. Once we got to the restaurant, we sat down, ordered, and had our food pretty quickly. Everyone began sharing food and trading so that by the end, we had each tried almost everything on the table. We even got to have some free chocolate cake because it was Amanda’s birthday.

Once we had all so gracefully stuffed our faces with food, it was time for games. We played everything from DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) to giant fruit ninja to larger than life connect-4. It was fun getting to see everyone a little more relaxed. The past couple weeks have been so hard on everyone and it was obvious that a break was needed.

When we were finished playing, we all went to cash in our tickets. I couldn’t find anything that I wanted, so I got Mary, my roommate, a stuffed M n’ M toy. Amanda got a set of key covers that all looked like cute zombies (if that is possible), so we all got to have one.

All in all, it was a great night and a great break from the hectic end of the year schedule. Happy Birthday, Amanda!

A Weekend in Saint Louis

Last weekend I took one of my new friends, Amanda, home to Saint Louis with me so that she could hang out with my family and get to see the city a little bit. She is from Omaha and she said that she had never been to Saint Louis except for the airport for a layover. If you have ever seen our airport, you know why I begged her not to judge us solely on its quality.

Amanda and I at the top

On Friday night, we had some dinner with my family and went back to my high school for an improv show. It was a bit strange being back because it had been so long. The school did feel familiar; however, it was almost like it was from a dream instead of real life. While we were there I got a chance to see some old friends which was nice.

The donuts are being made!

The second day, we set out to do stereotypical Saint Louis things. We started at the Arch and then headed to the City Museum. The arch was a nice blast from the past because I went often in elementary school for field trips but I had not been since. We rode all the way up to the top and got to look over what seemed like the whole world. We even saw the beginning of a proposal. A man had some friends setting up letters that spelled out “Alyssa will you marry me?” on the grass below the arch. The letters were as big as the people setting them up. If you have never been to the top of the arch, I would recommend putting it on your bucket list because it really is a breathtaking sight.

After that, we grabbed some quick lunch at a cool “hipster-type” place called the Rooster. There, I had my first savory crepe. Then we rushed to meet my family at the City Museum. We spent over an hour just outside because the weather was so nice and there were so many places to run around out there. I don’t think I could completely describe how awesome it was once we got inside without writing a novel. We saw the largest pair of underwear, watched circus performers practice, learned how to make blown-glass beads, ate mini donuts that were made fresh right before our eyes, went down a ten-story slide, walked through a museum room with pieces of old Saint Louis artifacts, and climbed all over the place. It was an awesome day all together.

As I may have mentioned before I am the youngest of nine children, so I am used to the whole “college process”. I’ve seen plenty of people go to college, make friends, and move on before me, but when I thought of myself going to school I never thought that I would be bringing friends home this soon (if at all). At Rockhurst I have made so many friends so quickly and I could imagine going on a trip with any number of them. We even are beginning to plan a trip for over the summer where I would go to Omaha to visit all my friends there. I can’t wait for all these relationships to grow and become stronger. I love all my new friends and can’t imagine how I was getting along without them before I got here.

Ride-to-the-Rock weekend

This past weekend was Ride-to-the-Rock, so I had a high school student from Saint Louis stay with me and my roommate for a night. I was a little nervous because when you are paired with someone completely randomly you never know what they will be like, if your personalities will mesh, or if you will like them at all. I was pleasantly surprised with mine. She was sweet, intelligent, and interesting. She was also a pretty similar personality to mine, so we got along great.

When the “Rock Babies”, (high school students) as we like to call them, arrived we only got a few minutes to talk to them because we had to drop their stuff off in our room and then get them back to the science center so they could take a tour of campus and go bowling. Mine was pretty easy to talk to so there weren’t any awkward silences. We talked about campus, friends, majors, and a bunch of other random stuff.

Me and my Rock Baby!

When they were finished bowling, the Rock Babies were returned to us and we were able to do pretty much whatever we wanted as long as we stayed on campus. We decided to play Bingo in the Party Barn (a building where events are held on campus), which was a good decision because my Rock Baby ended up winning a Subway gift card for $10. All throughout Bingo, my friends and our high school students were singing along to the music playing and just messing around. It was tons of fun and I think it gave my student a feel for what it is really like a Rockhurst. After all the gift cards had been given out, we decided to head to McGee (one of the residence halls) to watch a movie. I pulled out my movie collection and everyone agreed on “She’s the Man” staring Amanda Bynes. It is always a good movie and it sparked some good conversation. Plus, I love watching it because I read “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare last year in AP Literature, which the movie is based off of.

When it was time to drop the Rock Babies off in the morning, both of us were a little sad because we had fun hanging out together. We got a Rockstar picture together and decided we would keep in contact via Facebook. I secretly hope that she ends up coming to Rockhurst. I think it would be the best place for her aaaaand I would feel sort of cool if I helped convince someone to come here. But, even if she chooses somewhere else, it was a fun weekend and I made a friend.