"Life without music would be a mistake" - Nietzsche

I love music. Like I absolutely LOVE music. I listen to it all day at work as I read applications, answer e-mails and book travel visits. I listen to it in the car. I listen to it at home while cooking, knitting or reading. I watch TV shows that include music (hello GLEE!) and would go to every Broadway musical ever made if I could. But I'm not a musician - until now.

When our office's web support specialist sent out an e-mail trying to recruit members for the Winooski Community Chorus that she directs I laughed a little - I've never been a singer, but man, I can sure belt out the tunes in the car. However, once I got to thinking about it a little more, I decided that I wanted to try joining the chorus - I mean, what did I have to lose? Maria said that it was very low key, and that they were going to be singing Broadway songs. Two things I love more than anything - things that are relaxed and Broadway. I was in.

Independently of this, my roommate and fellow SMC staff member Mallory also decided to join the chorus. Perfect. What better way to have fun then belting out show tunes with one of my best friends? Mal still has to sing my notes for me and tell me to stop singing when it's not our turn, but I think I doing fine, especially now that I know what notes to look at on the sheet.

SMC has taught me to go for what I want - if I want to sing in a chorus, I should just commit to it and try my hardest - and maybe I'll find a new hobby that I could have for the rest of my life!

So if you're applying to SMC, just think about me jamming out in my cubicle to the wide variety of music that I listen to as I read your application - today is was a mix of Girl Talk, Carolina Liar and my grooveshark.com playlist of all of the chorus' songs for our concert...so when I've got my headphones in, watch out, I'm a happy girl!

Boston!

One of the things I love about living in Burlington is how close it is to a variety of major cities - you can easily get to Montreal, Boston and NYC in just a matter of hours. This weekend I made a trip down to Boston with Thomas to visit and friend, go to a 3-D IMAX show at the Aquarium and see a Celtics game!

We saw the "Under the Sea" IMAX show, and then followed it up with a walk around the aquarium - it was really cool to see several of the really interesting creatures that we had seen in the IMAX next door at the aquarium, like the wicked cool leafy sea dragon.

After the aquarium we walked through Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market and then caught the T to the Museum of Fine Arts where our friend is a chef (they have a delicious restaurant inside of the museum). Jared took care of us to the utmost degree and had us try a bunch of the different dishes that he makes - it was delicious! After the feast we went back to Jared's house and he cooked for us again - chicken tacos this time!

On Sunday we saw the Celtics vs. Magic game which was a lot of fun. I was rocking my new Shaq t-shirt, but he's injured and wasn't even there which was too bad. We had a great time watching all of the action and seeing some great basketball. We drove home after the game and got back just in time to catch the last few minutes of the Superbowl.

What a great weekend in such a vibrant and fun city - I hope to make more trips in the future!

"we're all together" Baltimore 2011

I just returned from my Extended Service Trip to Baltimore, MD yesterday - what a great experience! If you've followed my blog for a while, you know about my experiences in David. KY and the Dominican Republic on SMC service trips, but this one was completely different - I was totally in charge as the group's staff leader (my student leader had to change his plans last minute and couldn't come with us...). Everything went off without a hitch and we had an incredible group and incredible service sites in inner city Baltimore.

We went to various service sites, but I think that everyone would agree that our favorite site was Our Daily Bread (aka ODB) where we served lunch 3 times. ODB serves lunch everyday of the week, 365 days of the year to anyone who needs a hot meal - they see up to 800 people during their 2 hour serving! We had different tasks ranging from bread girl (my specialty) to table cleaner to tea person and we all had meaningful experience serving those who need it most. We didn't take any pictures out of respect to the guests, but we had a really great experience!

We were also able to visit Washington DC on the Sunday before our week of service which was fun - I had never been! We visited all of the monuments and the Holocaust museum which was great. Here is our group in front of Vermont at the WWII monument on the National Mall.

Front Row (l-r): me, Alex, Jenna, Abbey, Second Row: Melissa, Caitlin, Liv, Kate and Brian

We had a great experience doing volunteer work in an area of the country which is so different from our corner of the world, and I am happy to say that the both the students and I learned a great deal and had lots and lots of laughs! Our trip motto was "We're all together" because of the various mishaps (7 hour delay in Philly? It's OK because we're all together) we had during the course of the week and because of how well we all got along. I foresee many reunions in the future!

The group in front of the Washington Monument, which we went up to the top of!

Early Action I...

decision letters have gone out! Here's hoping that you got good news from us in the awesome purple envelope, but if not, please don't be discouraged...

If you've been deferred from Saint Michael's College, please know that you have absolutely not received a denial letter - just as your letter says, "our hope is to encourage you to do your very best academic work in your high school classes at this time. You should know that last year we admitted a large percentage of students who were deferred during our early action review." It's so important to understand how much everyone here is pulling for you - as long as you really step up your game in the next few months and send us all of the results. Another piece of advice - keep in touch with us! It really demonstrates your interest when we see how much admission to Saint Michael's means to you.

If you've received a denial letter, please know that the door is not completely closed. As the letter says, our decision is final for the Fall of 2011 and we cannot reconsider you during our Regular Action deadline, however we very much hope that you will continue your education at another institution and will consider applying to Saint Michael's as a transfer student in the future if your interest persists (after you have completed at least two full-time semesters).

And of course, a huge congratulations goes out to everyone who was accepted into the Saint Michael's College Class of 2015! We had a record breaking number of applications for our Early Action I deadline and anticipate this this trend will continue - so congratulations on a job well done!

More Extended Service!

**If you're participating in the Holiday Video Contest, please comment on the post right below this!**

I've known about this for a while, but am just getting around to tell you lovely blog readers now - I was chosen to lead one of MOVE's (Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts) Extended Service Trips this winter! Myself and my fearless student leader Evan and I will be taking our group to Baltimore, MD to work with a variety of organizations through Catholic Charities of Baltimore. 

I am so excited for this opportunity - my two service trips (one to David, KY and the other to the Dominican Republic) were absolutely crucial to my experience at Saint Michael's and I am very much looking forward to facilitating that experience for a group of current students. We'll be heading out on January 8th and have a full day free where we are planning to go to Washington DC and then will do a full week of service.

I'll keep you updated!

Mike the Angel loves service!

Saint Michael’s Holiday Contest

Congrats!  You finished the St. Mike’s Holiday Contest.

If you are a current high school or PG student and would like to be entered into the drawing to win some SMC swag, leave your name and email address in the comments section of this post.  A few winners will be drawn at random on December 31, 2010.  We will be contacting prize winners via email and will be verifying that those selected are high school or PG students.

We hope you had fun playing our 2^nd annual Holiday Contest.  Please share the link to the contest with your friends!

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Go Purple Knights!

Yesterday I went over to the Ross Sports Center and watched the St. Mike's men's basketball team in their home opener against Concordia (NY). What a great game! The gym was pretty full and it was a really close game with some excellent shooting by our guys. We came out with a win, which was great!

This year two students (including student blogger, Pete Estes) are doing live radio broadcasts of a good number of basketball games. Go to www.smcvt.edu/athletics and click on "Teamline: Click to Listen" to hear the games live and become a part of Knight Nation!