End-of-Semester-Blues

It’s time to say goodbye…

Goodbye to the last four years.

Goodbye to the confines of Albertus Magnus College.

Goodbye to some of my favorite professors, mentors, classmates, and staff members.

Goodbye to long duty hours; endless lists of assignments.

Sayonara to creating monthly bulletin boards, planning & executing monthly floor functions, and hanging flyers.

I have 12 more days as a Resident Assistant and 18 more days left here on campus.

There are twenty-one typed pages and one final exam standing between me and the end of senior year. Today, I handed in my final poetry portfolio to Dr. Cole. She has been one of my educational mentors since freshman year here at Albertus. It is the end of an era!

This Friday is the Spring Formal; it’s my last one, and it will be the only one I actually get to go to. Freshman year my friend got sick and I had to take care of her back at the dorm. Sophomore year I ended up this awful headache as soon as I got there – so I had to go back to the dorm. Junior year I was on duty since I was the only non-senior RA in my building.

Senior year – this year – is my year!

I still have to decide on my dress. I have so many options in my closet here at school.

Alright, I suppose I should return to working on homework. The pub is particularly empty tonight. It’s a great night to write up 12 pages of my own Utopia for Dr. Imholt.

Signing off!

So I met this boy...

I met this boy -- actually, a twenty-seven year old is really considered a man, but it doesn't matter because either way, he is amazing. 

We had the most amazing weekend together!

On Friday, he and I walked all the way down Prospect Street into the downtown area. We walked around and observed all the goings on near Yale. We ate pizza at York Street and strolled through the New Haven Green. Before heading back to campus, we took a long detour and explored the other side of Temple Street, where the movie theater is, because I had never been back there. Apparently there is this enormous arts and humanities high school on the other end of College Street. We saw it on our way back. Once more through the New Haven Green before we began our journey back up Prospect Street.

Longest walk ever.

Saturday morning, and Zack was craving waffles. Luckily, there is a waffle maker in the dining hall. After waffles, we journeyed downtown once again. We were going to see a movie together. We were supposed to see this movie called True Story starring James Franco and Jonah Hill (I think), but the website had the wrong movie time listed. We ended up seeing While We're Young, with Ben Stiller and that guy from that old show Coach. Amanda Seyfried was in it too. It was a really great movie. It was funny and sad; there was drama and romance. What more could you ask for?!

It felt so nice to sit in the movie theater with someone's arm around my shoulder. Occasionally he would hold my hand. He has such soft hands. 

After the movie, we came back to school and had dinner because at 7 we were going to see the Act II production of The Fantastiks. I was super nervous about the play. What if he didn't like it? Luckily, he loved it! His favorite was the character El Gallo. His costume was pretty awesome. 

Zack is a huge Big Lebowski fan! 

Far out, man!

I popped the dvd into the player when we got back and he and I watched the movie, laughed to our favorite parts, recited some of our favorite lines with the movie, and shared little tidbits that we each knew about behind-the-scenes stuff. 

Sunday we slept in a bit. Finally, we rolled ourselves out of bed and walked downtown for coffee. He really wanted Dunkin Donuts. On our way back to school this time, we walked around and explored the open parts of the Yale campus a little bit. Right on the corner of College Street, this is this beautiful building with a gorgeous wooden door, with little metal flourishes in the corner. There is also this beautiful, painted ceiling. I have walked past this building hundreds of times and I never looked inside it. Yesterday, I finally did. 

We have plans for more New Haven adventures next weekend. There is this pathway that leads underneath the Trumbull Street intersection that we want to explore and see where it leads. 

We know where the entrance is, but where is the exit?

This was one of the best weekends I have had in a while. It was so nice to just have someone to spend time with and we really enjoyed each other's company. I hope it continues after Graduation, but if not, then it was just "enchanting to meet him", as Taylor Swift would say.

Yankees v. Red Sox

Yesterday was a New York City adventure day.

I traveled to the Bronx with  a bus full of excited baseball fans from Albertus Magnus. I bought myself a dirt water dog, from one of the carts outside the stadium. 

I also did something I will try never to do again -- buy food inside the stadium. The food in there is ridiculously overpriced for the quality. 

$21.00 for a cheeseburger and a Stella beer. 

At least the burger was delicious.

Our seats were amazing!

We sat by left field right in the fly zone for batting practice. There were a few close calls where rogue baseballs almost came crashing down on me, but luckily people caught them. 

There were at least four very exciting home runs made during the game. I was really excited to be there for the entire game, because if it went on for as long as Friday night's game, the bus driver told us we were leaving at the end of the 9th inning no matter what. Luckily, the game finished up at 11:30. 

The Yankees won.

I started off my senior year with a trip to Boston's Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox play in their home stadium. It is really cool to get to be inside these baseball stadiums that you normally see only through a television screen. It is a fun time and a very colorful atmosphere to say the least. 

Job Hunts

While I was on duty tonight, I was working on polishing my cover letter and resume for this really awesome Editorial Assistant job in New York City. I can only pray that I at least earn an interview because working for Penguin-Random House would be such an amazing opportunity. 

I started out by logging into my new favorite website, saltmoney.org, and checking out their article all about  cover letter writing and where to begin. I just followed the steps because they tell you exactly what you should talk about in each paragraph of your cover letter. I think that I paint a really great picture of my skills and why I am a good candidate for the position, but I am so nervous that I said too much or maybe I said things I should never say. I mean, I talked about the kinds of responsibilities I work on in my various positions that involve some of the skills they are seeking. I am showing them rather than just telling them. 

All I really can hope for is that they like me enough to call me into the office for an interview. That would be an honor all by itself.

During the last few hours of duty, I worked on typing up a budget for myself that I think I can stick to. It is actually not so much a budget more than it is a typed up list of my financial crisis. I really want to try and use this summer as the time to become fiscally responsible. I have a life plan, and if I stick to the plan, then I can do just about anything.

Lifeplan:

Work at Brussels while living at home.

Find job in NYC in major publishing house.

2-3 years, find fabulous NYC apartment

Write part-time/Work full-time

6-8 years, re-locate to somewhere else fabulous

10 years = FIRST BEST SELLING NOVEL! New York Times raves about it!

I have a laundry list of things that need to be accomplished this summer, but I am taking it in "Baby Steps" (Dr. Leo Marvin, What About Bob?" Excellent movie.

I just really want to save my money so I can be financially sound for a while. I am definitely not in the market for a house within the next 10 years, but I want to rent a really nice apartment somewhere. According to the Salt calculator, if I put away $100 a week into savings, in 20 years, I could have 300,000 dollars. That sounds so epic. My plan for myself is to never be in debt. It is just way too stressful.