Yikes Finals!

Currently I am typing this in the library. It is crunch time on campus, so I find myself almost living in the library. I can not believe one term is almost complete! It's crazy.

My Thanksgiving break was remarkable. I spent a ton of time with my family and of course eating. I can not count how many times I played Scrabble with my parents. And yes I did win...once. Not to brag I got a four letter word that got me over 30 points, no big deal.

I also had an adventure with one of my Nonna's (grandmother) to go get her a flu shot. It's always a fun time with my Nonna especially because she speaks broken english. She was a riot that day, on top of having an amazing personality to begin with. Allow me to recap the story. She loves to say hello to everyone and did not understand what the nurse was asking her before her shot, but just smile and nodded. The nurse asked is this your name on the paper and my Nonna answered no. Then the nurse asked are you allergic to latex, my Nonna answers yes (she is not). Then when she realized she was answering her questions incorrectly by the look on the nurse and my face she tells the lady, "I'm sorry I do not know much English, I came from Italy. My children all went to college, but in my country we did not need that long of school." The nurse loved her attitude and we all laughed! After receiving the flu shot we went back to her house and ate...a lot. She kept telling me mangia mangia! So i did! She shared some wonderful stories with me and I tried to freshen up on my Italian because she was not telling them in english.

Aside from that day I spent another afternoon with my other Nonna too. Again we ate and she also shared stories with me about Celano, her father being a prison of war for ten years!, and the latest in the news. I really cherish the time I spend with my Nonna's and I am always eager to listen to stories of their lives. Even though they say they're vecchio (old) I tell them they are giovane (young) and will live forever.
I had a chance to catch up with my close girlfriends as well. Everyone is doing wonderful. One in particular is going to Africa at the end of December to help out in Ghana and the others are busy with resident assisting, dance, classes, sororities, and leadership positions on their campuses.

As for myself this week is the Holiday Banquet and Ball. Everyone gets all dollied up for the dinner and dance. It is a wonderful tradition! I am on duty in my dormitory, so I will not be attending this year, but will still take pictures with my friends before they decide to dance the night away...and survive Saturday!

Turkey!

Thanksgiving break is quickly approaching and everyone deserves a wonderful break. Three more days of classes and students will reside to live in the Cottages and Towers or will be making the journey home! My break will consist of looking at Graduate schools for Physical Therapy, research paper, and catching up with family/friends and much sleep!

To keep you posted we finished the season as runner-up for the ECAC tournament. Last weekend we hosted the ECAC tournament and Spiedel Gynmasium transformed into a volleyball extravagansa. My cousin was actually on a tour and the parents on the tour wanted to stay to watch the end of the game before continuing with the tour! What fabulous support. We had an amazing season and will miss our two graduating senior, but are eager to work hard in the off season to make it even further next year!

Tonight is the Encore preformance of Orchesis and I will be in two numbers. There are two shows. No worries I will post some pictures!

ECAC Game Today

We found out on Monday that we will be playing Baurch for ECAC's volleyball!! Today is the game at 5pm and we are hosting. We played Baurch at their campus in NYC a couple weeks ago and won. I am very excited for the game and we are ready to play. Varsity Men's soccer also found out on Monday that they too will be extending their season and will be playing at home on Friday for ECAC's. The campus and athletes are eager to cheer on their eagles.

Aside from athletics tonight is the theme dinner. Simmeon Benjamin goes to New Orleans is the theme. Sadly after the game I will be running over to Kolker with one of my teammates to take an Epidemiology exam. Hopefully I will find someone to grab me some food. :)

I'll keep you posted on how we do!

It's Getting Cold!

With most of the leaves fallen off the trees, we are reminded that November has arrived! This is the time where people long to wear their fall jackets when really the wind just rips right through them and a winter jacket would be the best bet.

Aside from weather, all is well at Elmira. With less than half of the first term completed everyone is choosing classes to take for term II. Decisions...decisions. In the works on my schedule is Genetics, some more Organic Chemistry, a little Calculus, and some Nineteenth Century Art. Students are also beginning to sign up for Holiday Banquet and Holiday Ball.

This past weekend for Volleyball we went 2 and 0! Next on our schedule we are awaiting the word to hear that we will be competing in the ECAC tournament to extend our season and bring home more wins.

Attached are a few pictures from our Halloween Doubles Tournament!

Midterm Break!

It's crazy to think that 6 weeks of Term One has already passed.

For this midterm break our volleyball team had a tournament at Baruch in New York City. It was a nice break to go to the city and play 3 teams we wouldn't normally compete against. We finished the weekend 4-0 to win the tournament and had a very good fan turn out too!

With no classes on Monday or Tuesday, yesterday was a lazy day off to get laundry and work done. Of course on a lazy day we had to go get some Chinese food too!

Basketball season began this weekend for Elmira College, so I was also able to work a little sports medicine on this break. Both teams look ready to go for this upcoming season! This Thursday is Hoops Hysteria where our basketball teams kick off the season, dance-line performs, and prizes are won. I will post pictures from the event!

Since it is Tuesday campus will start coming to life again as students arrive back on campus from their break. My floor is very quiet without the majority of my residents here...almost too quiet, so I am excited to hear all about their breaks.

That was the weekend in a nut shell. And in-case you are unaware the Angles won last night!!!

Have a great week!-Andrea

Parent's Weekend

You know it's Parent's weekend when you walk down your floor and hear students vacuuming on a Friday morning.

Friday night was full of Bingo, food, Quarry Farm tours, A1 and the Sauce performance, and a hypnotist. If you do not believe in hypnosis you should talk to Carlie Cerne '11 who at one point in time of the hypnosis was told her shoe was a dog as she cuddled with it. Many laughs came from that evening. Good times, good times.

Saturday afternoon consisted of breakfast, Purple and Gold Volleyball game, Men's Soccer home game, and Women's away soccer games. For our volleyball game I was on the purple team and we got owned, to put it nicely. After the game the sun came out and the day was just beginning for some. As for myself I went to go check my parents into the hotel with them and completely feel asleep while testing out their bed. When I woke up they were ready to go to the dinner dance, so we booked it back to school. I got ready and we meet up with my friends and their parents and ventured on over to the dinner dance. The food at the dinner

dance was just as fabulous as the company that surrounded us. We had some pretty sweet gold and black hats and pearls to dress up our evening. The famous father daughter dance was a highlight of my evening :) and dancing with my mom and girlfriends.

Sunday came fast along with the goodbyes. It was a wonderful weekend!

Here are some pictures!

We want a Mountain Day!

Last night included rolling in mud, painting, singing, and jumping. Why? Well it was the first night of Mountain Day singing. The theme was TV Shows for your floor. The ideas we had were America's Next Top Model and Survivor. As you can probably guess we went with Survivor. Our outfits consisted of mangled t-shirts, rags, and leggings to keep warm. Our cheer was to the song I will Survive. Although we did not win for best Floor, we still took a lot of pictures and had a blast. The rain held off and the sun even came out while we were getting ready. Sadly following I had to study for a physics test and most of the girls on my floor had to finish a paper for college composition. Keeping my optimistic behavior tonight maybe the night to give us a Mountain Day tomorrow! The theme is Togas for class year. So lets go 2011's!!!

Over the weekend on campus was Octagon Fair, where clubs and organizations set up booths to get the community aware of activities and build a relationship. I heard it went really well despite the unanticipated fall weather. Along with Octagon Fair the Men's Varsity Soccer added another win to their season. For volleyball this weekend we had our first Empire 8 Tournament of the year and went 2-2. The last two matches were very close in the final sets. Looking on to next week we have a tournament at Fredonia and we are very eager to keep playing aggressively. Aside from athletics and Mountain Day the Elmira Chiclet's held auditions for their acapella group. I can not wait to hear them preform!

Academically I had my first 3D class today. Organic Chemistry and 3D glasses who knew! We looked at the chiral structures and placed priorities by our professor rotating them on the board, so we could see in 3 dimensions how it would actually look. Too bad for tests we won't be able to do that. Physics we worked on projectile motion last week and launched small objects knowing the angle, finding the distance, and calculated the velocity.

Anyway I will post some pictures from our first night of Mountain Day!
I'll let you know when the day is granted!

Junior Year

Hello All!

Summer flew by! Already another academic year beings. So let me fill you in. The class of 2013 already went through Fall Orientation and learned their class cheer, which I maybe slightly jealous of. Along with Fall Orientation their College Composition Course has been keeping them busy along with the annual Foam Dance party. I got the joy of watching my residents come running back covered in foam and others coming back dripping wet because they jumped in the fountain. Good times...good times.

Being a Resident Assistant in Anderson Hall, Freshman class, is quiet different from upperclassmen last year. They are full of energy and very excited about the year. Already we had the most people out of all the underclassmen dormitories attend phone-athon. Mountain Day with them is going to be big, one of the college's many traditions where every night is a different theme that you dress for and sing outside our Presidents Home to sing in hopes of a Mountain Day. Once given, Mountain Day is a day off from classes and full of free food and games.

To keep filling you in this weekend for volleyball we won our home tournament. The tournament was with three other schools and was a Dig Pink event meaning we raised money for breast cancer. Everything was pink...even our volleyballs. The color pink is not my favorite color, actually my least, but I decked out in pink for the cause. This season looks very promising and I can not wait to see us go very far. This weekend coming up is the Plattsburgh Tournament, so I will keep you posted. There we play St. Lawrence, St. Joseph, and Buffalo. Aside from volleyball winning our Men's and Women's soccer also had a victorious weekend. Congrats!

The first week of class is under our belts. For myself it has been full of physics and organic chemistry. All my professors are amazing and so eager to give assistance.

Have a great week and feel free to ask questions!

-Andrea

Another Academic Year Flew By

Ciao!

I am officially in my third year at Elmira College. Scary! I still feel like an incoming student, meeting all 2011's during Summer Registration.

The musical went really well. For all four performances we recieved all standing ovations. It was great to be in theater again and meet new people.

For my Representing American Landscape class we ended with a final portfolio and group presentation. This class was very different from my major and was sooo interesting.

As campus has quieted down, I am still here for Gold Key, RA duty, and Commencement. Right now I am in the Office of Admissions wanting to give a tour. It is so beautiful out I hope they arrive soon :). Tomorrow should be wonderful weather too for Commencement Ceremony. I will miss a lot of the class of 2009 and Graduate Students. I have made some of my best friends in this class and looked up to them as an incoming student.

After tomorrow summer begins! I will be taking classes at a University near home, working, and playing beach volleyball!

Have a terrific summer everyone! And feel free to ask questions!

May Days!

It's lovely May. The campus is booming with students laying out on the lawns reading, playing softball, listening to music, playing frisbee, etc.

May Days was last weekend. To describe May Days there is a themed dance on the Friday night and Saturday is a carnival on campus. Free food, games, and prizes. This year I took part in the limbo and watched the pie eating contest (Nice Job Noah!). Although it rained a little, the sun stayed out in the early evening.

For my landscape class we went to NYC yesterday. With a little delay, as in a three hour wait because our bus broke down in New Jersey, we were able to visit everything we intended too. We visted Central Park and Museum of Modern Art. I did not realize how large Central Park was, over 800 acres! In one location of the park a just married couple was getting their photograph taken, so it was a prime opportunity to catch a few photos myself. With the address to meet at the end of the day, we split into groups. When it came time to get back to the bus my group of five decided to go for the subway experience instead of walking back. Being the tourist students we had to ask which one to get on...and although we got off a few blocks early, we jumped back on and found our way to the bus! Now I just have to write the paper for the day :(.

It is so crazy to think third term is coming to an end! I better get moving on my projects too! Yikes. The Musical Nine is coming together very well too only 1 more week till opening night!

Hope all is well...feel free to answer questions!!

Busy Sunday

Hello All!

The sun is shinning, intramural softball has begun, and so has 6 weeks of classes. It is Term III. My class is going good and we even had a field trip on Friday to a nature center and some local parks for Representing American Landscape. I will have to attach some photographs that I am proud of! Everything is going smoothly.

As I type the Red Sox-Yankees game is tied, so hopefully the Sox's get some hits soon! Anyway softball has ended with a win for our last game. It was a perfect final inning too with amazing catches. Although we did not make Empire 8's this season, next year looks very promising. We'll miss our four seniors :( .

Volleyball spring season has taken way again and it is great to be on the court. This weekend was a Junior Open House and Admitted Student Day with perfect weather. As you passed Hamilton Hall you would have been able to see purple and gold tent and all the daffodils opening! The temperature reached the high eighties!

Speaking of nice weather today was perfect for our Women's Lacrosse team on their senior game day. They beat Hartwick in overtime.

Alright off to read a few articles...and sadly the game is still 0-0.

Term II Great Success!

Hey There!

Right now I am sitting home on my couch checking my grades on Angel. This week is Elmira's Spring Break. We have a couple days off from softball, so back to Rochester I went. Yesterday to celebrate Easter the whole family came over. Home cooked food and being surrounded by loved ones makes it a perfect break.

Everyone's family is different. Yesterday I caught myself wondering "wow if someone walked into my house and saw 30+ family members waving in front of a computer screen would they find us weird?"

I'll explain. . . some of our family is in Florida, so using Skype we were able to see our family members, but the volume was not working on our end. For about 45 minutes we all just smiled and waved at each other, occasionally talking very loudly in hopes to hear one another. In the end it worked out, after lots of loud talking mostly from my Nonna (grandmother) in Italian and a few volume controls on the MAC we were able to celebrate together! It was great to have a little one running around the house. The newest edition is little Adam. He loved picking up Easter eggs, rubber ducks from the bathroom, any fruit, and astonished by the refrigerator and my cat snowball. Snowball stayed in one room throughout the day, so Adam meowed at every closed door asking "Meow?" hoping someone would let him into the room where snowball was. He is so cute!

Although it was in the 40's for the temperature, we still had an egg hunt. Yes, I was too old to participate, so I took pictures!

Tomorrow is back to EC for me. Term III begins April 20th! The 6 credits I chose to take is Representing American Landscaping! After a few years of hearing how exciting this class is I wanted to take it too! It counts for 3 Creative Processes and 3 U.S. Aside from class rehearsals for the production Nine will consume the evenings.

Well I hope you have a wonderful day!

Any questions please feel free to ask!

Undefeated!

Hey there...I know it has been a while.

So here is a little recap.

1. We are undefeated in Softball ! 2-0 Next game at Home versus Utica College on Saturday.

2. Women's Ice Hockey placed 2nd in the NCAA tournament

3. Academic Honors and Student Recognition Banquet is coming up.

Time is flying by so fast...I can not believe it is already the 25th. Where has March gone? The end of term II is nearing. Everyone is registering for classes and figuring out roommates for next year. It's crazy to think next year is Junior year for me. And for the graduating class that they will not be here next year :(. I thought that High School went by quickly, but college is flying by even faster.

If anyone has any questions about EC feel free to ask away!

For Michaela (awesome girl) ---> We do get to write what ever we would like. Miss you too!

Camping Adirondack Center

Hey hey. . .

SO this weekend was great. For softball we went to the Adirondack Center. If you are ever looking for a place to bring a group, this is definitely it!! It is located in the Foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York, and has about 200 acres of land. I know from people who took the Outdoors Adventures class third term, when they took their trip there, they did a lot of outdoor activities like high ropes course, but due to snow and rain we remained inside.

WIth sleeping bags, pillows, and food (lots of food) we left at 6:45 am. During the drive we passed a lot of cows and a got taste of Amish life style. Once we were there we all wanted to eat, but we broke out with a few team bonding activities. Craig, runs the center and leads in adventure education, taught us some great necessities of life and being on a team. Some of our activities include jumping back to back, rock climbing, impulse game, sculpting with playdough (having group guess), and dodge ball!!! Of course for that game we went all out. One activity was having to lower a skinny pole to the ground, while only balancing it on a part of your finger. The tough part was there are to lines of people facing each other and everyone had to be touching the pole the whole time. Right off the bat, the pole went straight up into the air. After much confusion to as why the bar went up when we all knew it had to go down, it sunk in that we needed to work together and we did! We got the bar to the ground; concept here was to not only be in "your space", be observant of others around you. To get out of "your space" is tough because today we are always on cell phones, ipods, computers, tv, etc., so this weekend we did not use any of those. At night we cooked pasta (with great sauce thanks Britt's Mom), played board games...intense board games, and had a messy cupcake war. Oh yes we also started plotting to scare each other which definitely worked for me along with a few dance parties in the kitchen. So attached are a few photos!

Is it Friday yet?!

So today is my brothers birthday, and i asked my Mom ...

(ME): "what are you guys doing tonight?
(Her reply):"we are going to the cheese cake factory"
(ME): "aww okay have fun and think of me"
(Her reply): "well i mean you weren't born yet on your brothers birthday, so I'm not sure we will"

Just wanted to let you know that when you go to college your family really misses you.

Aside from that it is Thursday and I just took a Botany lab practical, I know exciting. For real though some exciting news is for softball we are going on a team bonding trip for a night where all I know of so far we have sleeping bags, we will be staying in a lodge, there will be food and water, and it should be a fun time. I will not be the first one to fall asleep with my team. Okay, Since I stayed up way too late reviewing and had early morning practice its time for a nap.

Have a great day!

Seven Weeks into Term II

This is my first time blogging, so be patient with me! :)

Right now there are five more weeks of Term II left. I am a biology major and inspire to become an orthopedic, so the last stretch of Term II for me means really working hard towards being academically successful and lots of softball! Softball season started and our first game is March 21st at home. Our team looks great and we all mesh really well together. Aside from academics,softball, and anxiously awaiting Term III, siblings weekend is coming up and much hockey! The Women's Varsity Hockey Team is hosting ECAC's at the athletic center and it is sure to be intense games.

As I am sure you can tell, there is always a lot of different activities going on at Elmira. Theme dinner is this Thursday which means free food and games. The theme is along the lines of a rockstar, so of course there will be singing! Everyone is preparing for room selection for the 2009-2010 academic year. As for myself, I will be a Resident Assistant in Anderson Hall. This will be a change for me from Perry Hall, which is an upperclassmen dorm, but I look forward to the change and working with the incoming 2013 class!

That's all I have for right now. . .I'm off to spring season volleyball practice!
-Andrea Masiello '11