Graduation year is almost here!!

Happy Holidays to everyone!


Here are some photos from the Holiday Banquet!










Term I finished well, hard work does pay off. Sleeping pays off too from what I learned from experience. So it was finals week and the night before my last final, and all I had to do was study for one more night. After my Comparative Final that evening I went to dinner where my friends and I exchanged our gifts and went back to my room to attempt to study. Christmas movies were on TV and I decided just to watch one to relax while studying. Next thing I knew it was 7:00am the next morning and my exam was in 2 hours. I woke up with the pencil still in my hand and books right on top of me...I hadn't moved in over 9 hours!! With realizing what time it was I got ready for the day and crammed. In the end I received one of my highest test grades in that class on the that final, so sleeping sometimes really is better than staying up late to study! I'm just glad I woke up in time!

The next day I made my way home with a stop at my Nonna's house. As soon as I entered my Nonna's house they were just sitting down to eat some home made linguini. It was epic timing. After dinner we ate some traditional Italian cookies my cousin and my cousin's wife made with my Nonna. They were delicious: filled with fig spread/raisins and topped with icing. Stuffed from the meal we decorated some more cookies and I drove home. Once home I caught up on sleep! It was great! Surprisingly there was very little snow in Elmira, so when I got home to the snow covered ground I was very excited. For one week I helped prepare things for the holidays and visited with my family. My Mom decided that I worked myself to be given the name "little elf" just to give you an idea of what I had been up to, although my brother says I am much to tall. Oh well...guess I'll have to choose another profession.

We celebrated Christmas Eve at my house with as many fish to eat as we could, not all seven, but we did pretty well. I did cut the calamari (squid) for the sauce a little large, but it went over really well! The next day we made it to two more houses, ate a ton and opened a few gifts. My little cousin Adam was the cutest. He is 3 years old and loves cars. Kids have the coolest toys these days. One of his gifts was a little couch that turns into a bed with a sleeping bag, Cars (Disney movie) logo on it of course.

It is nice to be home to spend time with family and friends! Although I do miss my friends from school I plan on meeting up with a few of them on a little road trip and with some who graduated a few years ago! Aside from all that I felt motivated today to purchase my texts books online for Term II. It's hard to believe this will be my last time buying books for school at Elmira! Yikes...where does the time go! Ciao!

Turkey!

Hi there! Two weeks of classes and one week of exams are left to finish off Term 1. It is crazy to think how fast this term is flying by! Slow down! Although we say two weeks of classes what we really mean to say is..."it's time to get all those projects, labs, and experiments done that you were given in the beginning of the term." Crunch time!

Everyone is making their way back to campus from Thanksgiving break and looking forward to the weekend traditions, Holiday Banquet and Ball. The seniors are looking forward to decorating the tree and living up their last Holiday Ball!

Thanksgiving break was great! The first weekend I came home to sixty people at my house in celebration of my brother's recent engagement. It was wonderful to meet my brother's fiance's family! We are very excited for the wedding planning to begin too! Then there was Thanksgiving Eve where we of course had to get everyone together and make our way downtown. As we migrated towards East Ave the cover charges kept increasing! It was crazy one place was charging a twenty dollar cover. We ended up hearing two really good bands, one of my friends brother's played in the band and the other band we just happened to catch. Three of my EC friends came out that night with my other friends and I. It was great to have everyone together! Two of my friends from EC celebrated Thanksgiving with me as well at my Aunt's house, it was just as if they were born right into the family! Next on the agenda was a surprise party for my parent's 25th anniversary party. Almost everyone in both their wedding parties could attend. So it was the day of the party and everything was in place...guests all arrived, all the food ready, and a reason for my parents to get to the lodge. Mind you they thought I had already gone back to school and they were suppose to be attending my little cousins 16th surprise party at 3:30pm. So 3:30pm rolls around and we call them...it ends up my dad decided he wanted to be a car mechanic and work on the car. Long story short we got them to the lodge and had my cousin at the door, since they knew they had 'supposedly' already missed Greg's surprise they both walked in and said surprise. And in return they received more surprises. It took them a little while to realize that it was in fact a surprise for them! But we all got them! The night was filled with memories, laughs, lots of food, and even of course Italian cookies!! I will post pictures soon!

So my Mother had to say goodbye again, this time for real! I did reassure her though that I would be home within a few weeks. Monday morning traffic back to school was not to much fun on 390, but I got to my first class in time with a pleasant surprise. The lab report I was stressing about was not due for another week! It is a good feeling!! Okay time to get some work done! Ciao!

One door closes while another one opens!

So it's November already! Which means that our volleyball season has come to an end, and for me participating first hand in varsity college athletics. Although we did not get a bid to go to the NCAA Tournament we were ranked number one for the ECAC Tournament and hosted it at home this past weekend. We came in second place. The last game was very entertaining and a good match. Our season was very successful where we were ranked regionally number five and number two in the Empire 8. I can not wait to see what the team can do next year, more success is on its way. A lot of my team mates were awarded many wonderful honors to show for a great season as well. It is always nice to have such a strong team, but even better to have strong friendships with one another. Good thing we have the rest of the year to hang out!! As soon as volleyball ends I will be spending my time with the basketball team for their sports medicine needs, so no worries I will still find my way to the gym.

Last week we registered for our classes for next term. It is crazy to think I only have one more term to register for. I am taking biology of cancer, kinesiology, introduction to geography (it's never too late to learn the world), ceramics. and physics II. I am extremely excited for bio of cancer and kinesiology, along with ceramics. I know I probably sound like a nerd, but it's okay.

Other than that school is going good. I spend my free time in lab with dead animals for comparative anatomy, don't worry they all have names. Aside from lab this week is our Orchesis Club show and last week before Thanksgiving break! I can not wait to sit back, eat lots of food, see friends/family, and find time to do work. Over break my brother who recently got engaged is having an engagement party! Well actually my Mom being a wonderful planner and hostess in planning the party for them and of course my Dad is helping too. It is very exciting! I will have to post pictures! Two more exams, two labs, and one quiz away from break!

October !!

Happy October!

Where to begin...right now I am away with the volleyball team for our tournament at Hunter. Last night was our senior night and wow does time fly. I feel like I just arrived at EC for preseason volleyball and meeting my team. We have had so much fun and plan on having a few more weeks too! We are going to the Empire 8 tournament next weekend to play Nazareth and then we plan on much more too. It has been a wonderful seasons of road trips, fun games, and awesome supporters. The above picture is from our Halloween doubles tournament. Its our latest tradition to have teams picked at random, find a costume with your partner, and play tournament style during practice. My teammate and I decided to be grapes. It was a riot trying to get out of the dorm and into the gym, along with trying to put on a back pack with all the balloons on us. We looked good as green and purple grapes, but let me tell you it was not the best idea for playing volleyball. Safety pins plus sprawling is not a good idea, so we ended up in last place. Some of the other costumes were Matilda and Ms. Trenchable, Dr. Evil and Mini me, ghosts, Wayne's World, characters from the hang over, cows, and nerds. The cows won!! It was quiet entertaining trying to watch the ghosts play too.

This picture is from last weekend after our conference wins...we tested out these wash off mustache tattoos. It was too funny!

The above two photos are from Parent's Weekend. We had such a great time. There were so many activities going on. We went to Quarry Farm tour at dusk and it was beautiful! Of course we had to travel to one of the bars that everyone goes to with all our parents. The next day we had our parents versus volleyball players game. As you can see I was matched up against my dad at the net. He did have a block on me, but I'm okay with it. The dinner dance and Dr. Meier's house was really nice too to spend time with our families and class members. After putting out parents to bed we went out! It was a great weekend!

Well time for bed we play early tomorrow! Ciao!

2-0-1-1 We're the class that's almost done!

Senior year is here! I can not believe how fast the past three years have gone by.

Last time I blogged I was starting my next internship and summer was still around. So, I'll fill you in. The rest of summer was great. I learned a ton of useful information from both my internships. Although I did want to visit more graduate schools and spend more time with my family it was still a wonderful summer (including two weddings)!

Back to Elmira...for sports medicine training we broke right into our work and did all our certifications within the first few days. The same for resident assistant training. I am excited to say that my building staff won the RA challenge this year! Speaking of which I am living in Tompkins hall and loving it. My residents are great and some of my closest friends have decided the Tompkins environment is for them. The wood floors and trim in the room definitely make everyone feel at home. During training for orientation we started preseason for volleyball.

My new teammates bring a lot of talent to the court and really good laughs. So far in the season we have really succeeded having won our home tournament, a big win against Steven's Tech, and this past weekend the tournament at Oneonta State. We are working well together to accomplish our goals, and having a blast doing so! Since we play weekend tournaments we get to spend much quality time together snuggling on the bus, bouncing on the hotel beds, making sandwiches, doing work, playing buffalo tag, celebrating, family dinners at coaches, and most importantly laughing. We certainly have a lot of character on the team :) .

Aside from volleyball classes are going well. I recently began dissecting another cat, this time it is for comparative anatomy class. My lab partner and I decided to name our cat Jose'. And yes we did choose a cat that looked nothing like either of our cats at home. So far we have been looking at the muscular skeleton and of course comparing it with other vertebrates. Cats are not the only exciting moments in class. For plant ecology we have been taking field trips for lab to the USDA Material Plant and a Professor's wooded land. Along the way I have learned how to distinguish trees, plants, and calculated various species diversity in the surveyed area. Along the way I saw my first ever salamander and a ton of spiders!! Eventually the spiders didn't bother our lab and we were walking right over or past them. So far we have had wonderful weather and even had the chance to venture on the bank of the Chemung River on a sunny day.

My yoga class is great because it keeps me calm and relaxed. Even sometimes too relaxed where I have fallen asleep on the mat. Opps!! Along with yoga I am taking Evolution where we did a candy lab to figure out phylogeny of candy. Trust me it sounds delicious, but seriously hurt our brains leaving that class. Child Psychology is another class I am taking, which is something new for me and really quiet interesting.

Okay so classes rested aside everything is going great on campus. My friends who live in the new dormitory absolutely love all the space. Mountain Day and Octagon Fair were fantastic as well.

Alright, just thought I would catch you up real fast. I will have to give more details about Mountain Day and Octagon Fair next time!

Still have not unpacked...but summer is great!

Hello Summer!

After arriving home from Elmira and carrying in all my belongings with the help of my brother and Dad, I crashed on the couch. It felt wonderful to sit down, but sad as well knowing that when I go back to school I will be missing my friends who have graduated.

Their senior week was full of good memories to be retold for years. Along with collecting many cans (Chels), lots of Karaoke (team Thunder), and being reunited with my United Kingdom /Key West adventurers it was a good week. Summer began with busy weeks. I am doing a career related internship. To total the 240 required hours I am dividing my time equally at two Physical Therapy facilities. I have been at Sports Physical Therapy of NY now for almost 2 full weeks and am learning a ton. The company is wonderful and has over 23 locations in New York State, so if you are in need of physical therapy check it out and the new improved website http://www.sptny.com/. The atmosphere at the clinic is wonderful, it is an environment where the physical therapist make you feel comfortable and help you to help yourself in your rehabilitation. And the relationships built are very strong as well, and long lasting. So far I have learned a lot about the lower lumbar and pelvic region along with a bit about insurances. The week after next I will begin the other half at Clover Physical Therapy located in Pittsford. This is also a wonderful facility that is growing as well. I am excited to be obtaining such great experiences at both and will miss the patients, but am eager to continue learning.

Aside from the internships I still work at the friendliest of markets in the evenings. And for beach volleyball we are now 2 and 1. Our team plays Thursday nights at Ontario Lake on the beach. I know technically it is not a beach because all of you "oceaners" will say it is a lake, but to me it is a beach...there is sand and plenty of ice cream/restaurants. New on the team this year are an EC alumni and past EC student. From Perry New York they both now reside in Fairport and are two of my favorite people, along with being teammates and first friends at Elmira. I am so excited to be living nearby them and have them on the team. Once we get volleys going it is full of laughs and good times. Kickball is coming up soon and I am sure I will have some stories to share as well.

This week is the Jazz festival, with a ton of venues to choose from. Free concerts are my favorite ones, especially when a small glass of wine costs as much as a dinner, and tomorrow night Smash Mouth plays, so downtown Rochester will be the spot to be for the weekend. Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Father's Day!

Fountain is a must!

Hello!
I apologize for not blogging sooner. Term III was filled with reading, papers, softball, and most importantly fun.

Let me fill you in...
The fountain was more refreshing than I could remember with the wonderful 80 degree weather. And of course we only visited when we were not in class or on a relaxing Wednesday. This year we did get floats, blow up volleyballs, and super soakers. I began a lazy fountain ride too. You may have to ask for details. If this sounds confusing the fountain is in the heart of campus with the Iris Goddess on top, given as a class gift, where the water is cool and very inviting. This is one of my favorite class gifts and certainly one of the most enjoyed. On a few occasions the fountain was quiet bubbly and looked like a giant bubble bath. Which was perfect after our intramural softball game.

Speaking of intramural softball, my team Thunder Struck made it to the championship game against the hockey girls. Our team was composed of volleyball and softball players and friends. All we had to do was get two more outs and we would have been champs!! The hockey girls were batting better than us that day. Although we will miss our seniors...a lot...we will have to win it for them next year!

Despite the loss it all worked out. As a matter of fact it was actually my birthday as well! We did have a good fan base there that day. Another team mates parents were also up. My Mom, Dad, brother, brothers girlfriend, and my best friend all came to Elmira to celebrate. After the game we ventured out to the fountain, got ready, and spent the afternoon wine tasting with friends on Seneca Lake. It was Sunny and perfect. What more could I ask for? There were friends, family, and wine!! Wine tasting led to bowling in Mackenzie's back on campus. My parents needed the experience of the purple bowling shoes. A cake later was even better. My Mom went all Martha Stewart on me and baked a 6 layered cake with all different colors, topped with butter cream frosting. It looked cool, but tasted even better. Once I figure out the new postings of picture I will show you.

Sunday was rough, not because of the wine or my birthday...but due to papers. It is safe to say I completed all my work that Sunday, totalling an 8 page paper + 6 page paper+ another 6 page paper. Bioethics and Golden Age of Television were both interesting classes. I found the novel Never Let Me Go and Ozzie and Harriet the most interesting. Feel free to ask me about the 1950's and television, while it is still fresh.

Aside from intramural softball, the fountain, volleyball practice, and class we adventured as well. In the morning my friend and I would go for a run around Elmira before class. Some interesting spots were the new miniature golf at Eldridge Park and a place near Tanglewood Nature Center where you can overlook the city. It just so happens the longest run was on the hottest day ever! Barbeques were quiet frequent. Including a building wide program for Anderson Hall. Pictures also coming soon. We had over 100$ of gift card prizes too. It was a perfect way to wrap up the year.

Alright for now that was some of Term III for you. I will continue with senior week and summer soon, but right now I am at my internship and break time is over :) .

Life of Third Term is Near

Second Term completed! This past term has seemed like one of the longest and busiest terms yet.

So right now I am home for break. Traveling and all inclusive trips were looked at, but in the end Rochester appeared pretty good. A handful of my friends will be traveling or have just left for the Bahamas, Paris, United Kingdom, etc for Third Term. With all the flight delay due to the volcano I was glad to hear from a few people on the Paris/Italy trip that they made it there successfully! I will be staying in Elmira enjoying intramural softball, completing a bucket list with friends, taking Bioethics and Golden Age of Television, enjoying May Days, and hopefully getting some sun!

As for Rochester it has been sunny all week! Now the temperature has been a little chilly, but the sun certainly does help. It was a wonderful break just to go home and not worry about finishing projects or other work to complete. Although I'll have to admit it took a few nights to realize that. I can not tell you how many dreams I've had waking up trying to figure out a math problem or what I'm going to write for this non-existent essay I dreamt I had. I know it sounds strange, but it took me sometime to just kick back and relax. I was able to be productive looking for Physical Therapy internships and did not realize how many offices existed near me. There was a great opportunity in Michigan, but with RA training in August the dates did not work out. One of my friends will be there for the internship and I can not wait to hear how its going for her.

Aside from internship hunting I caught up on some movies and reading. For one Dear John is a sad book, I would not recommend reading it and I have been told the movie is sadder. Continuing with my week I had a movie date with my two little cousins who were also on break to go see the Tooth Fairy. I think I sugared them up too much cause they were not hungry for lunch on the way home. I also hung out with my Nonna and went to my other Nonna's with the whole family for the traditional Sunday dinner at Nonna's. I gardened and went shopping with my Mom (maybe a little too much), played with my some what new crazy kitten, got to see my brother and his girlfriend, and will shortly be going on a date with my Dad :). I know don't be jealous probably to ColdStone. It is still a little too chilly to head to Charlotte beach for some Abbott's, but Bill Gray's was a must this week as well. One thing I also need to do is head downtown with my camera to see the once existing subway (part of underground railroad) because they are filling in part of it soon. Some shots down there when the sun is out would be perfect and I have never been down there, its huge! Definitely something to not do alone. I'll let you know how it goes.

Anyway I'm rambling on...here are a few pictures of creeper cat, Oreo.

Spring Is Just Around the Corner...I Hope

Happy almost spring and St. Patrick's Day! There is an abundance of green across the campus today.

Let me catch you up. The Varsity Women's Hockey Team left today for Minnesota. Their season has been very rewarding and they continue to battle for the big win! Spring Season sports have began their regular practices, soon jumping into their season games.

Two weeks ago we had our Theme dinner. The campus center was transformed into a Caribbean Cruise. Upon entering you received a lei and money to gamble (don't get your hopes up it was paper). In the middle was a set up for massages, lots of delicious food (best cornbread ever), and downstairs photo booth! Overall it was a great break from being in the library and put me into a food coma.

Aside from that I can feel third term is just around the corner. Class registrations are coming up along with senior audits. No worries I'll graduate. Also, spring season volleyball is picking up :) and the grass is no longer covered with snow, so maybe we'll be able to set a court up outside. Soon we'll be lounging outside or in the fountain.

Have a wonderful day!

Midterm Break!

So it's been a little while since the last blog. Let me fill you in!

Different events that have occurred USA beat Canada in Hockey (in case you didn't know), various clubs organized a Sing to Save and we raised more than 500 dollars for Haiti, Men's and Women's Basketball/Hockey both held their Senior games, there was a Valentine's Day dance, and much planning for the upcoming Relay for Life.

6 weeks into Term II, means time for a midterm break! As most of my floor was all packed up and left on Friday, a few of us remand for a night of movies and RA duty. During the night we found a little four legged friend. No worries this little four legged friend was battery operated. It was one of those Zhu Zhu pets, but at first glance looks real other than the mooing sound it tends to make. Now this Zhu Zhu pet has two names it goes by on our floor. One is Charlie and the other is Theo. It's official this Charlie/Theo Zhu Zhu is now our floor pet.

On my way home I visited some of my girlfriends at SUNY Geneseo. It was nice to all be together again and always a wonderful evening. Then I made my way back home to Rochester just in time for a lazy Sunday and of course dinner with everyone at Nonna's house. Nothing beats a dinner at Nonna's. Today I visited my Mom at work for their multicultural lunch. Perfect day to take a visit to Kodak. It was delicious. My favorite food was probably the Spanish rice and of course lasagna. The rest of the week entails much rest, some snowboarding, Memorial Art Gallery, date with my Papa, researching internships (any connection in Physical Therapy let me know), and time with family/friends!

Oh and I was greeted at home by this new little cat, that I'm pretty sure is scared of me. Maybe it's because I tried to chase him around; which he did not like. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll become friends.

Term II

Term II is here!
So it has only been one week into classes, but it feels like a month! My Genetics course is really interesting, I've always liked genes (rough joke). I am also taking an Art History class to mix things up and learn a little about 19th Century Art. Along with those classes I am taking Organic II, Calculus II, and helping a classmate with her research.

For the research we will be taking swabs of nursing students name badges, stethoscopes, and their clothing/scrubs. The purpose of the research is to find out what bacteria is on each item in comparison to when the nursing students first began their classes in a non-health care environment. From the results we hope to improve aseptic technique to ensure an environment with less bacterial transmission. The nursing department is highly supportive and it will be a pleasure to work with all the students!

Alright...well today entails much work and RA small group selection. Have a wonderful Sunday!

Here are photos from break!