First Day at My Internship.

Yesterday I finally got to begin my internship at MVRCR; and I say finally because it took some time to schedule! With this internship I have the freedom to set up my own hours, so I initially tried to set up time in the afternoons after my all-day job at Revere Copper. This ended up not happening, and I had to play with my work schedule a little bit to fit it in, but I will now be able to intern Mondays, and then work the rest of the week. I have a pretty packed schedule by design, I keep myself busy outside of work and interning. That way, the weekends are just that much more enjoyable ;)

Anyway, for a first day it was low-stress and enjoyable; I did some learning and very basic tasks, and it felt good to finally get my foot in the door. I'm hoping I'll be able to make the best of the little time I have. I'm also lucky because the internship itself is of a volunteering and community-service nature (but it's more than that too), so that allows me some freedoms that I wouldn't have in a more structured internship (like Gabbi's... actually, her internships).

Like I said, I have some options as far as what I can pursue while I'm there. For example, I can teach driving on a computer simulator (which is challenging!), work on a cultural competence project (more on that later), teach ELL, as well as other various moving and helping volunteer-type activities. I'm someone who is typically less organized than I should be, so this is a good opportunity for me to prioritize and plan so that I can do and learn as much as possible with the time I have there.

I'm off to work soon (it's 6.30 here, ugh), but I'll be sure to update regularly now that my summer is taking some shape.

Thanks for reading!

Easter Weekend and Women's Hockey.

This past weekend SMC students had a four-day weekend for Easter, which I spent on campus and in the Burlington area. We've had long weekends before where a ton of people go home and a few stay, but in comparison this past one was post-apocalyptic; the only time there were people on campus was when locals (or other non-students) came to Easter mass on Sunday. 'Twas pretty creepy.

Anyway, Friday and Saturday I spent trying to do work as well as fraternizing with the remaining fellow students on my floor (mostly the latter), and then Sunday I went to the house of some family friends in Burlington for Easter brunch. I got to hide Easter eggs, which was an awesome new experience! I hadn't even been around an Easter egg hunt in years, and I think that hiding them (a.k.a perching them in precarious places because I'm tall) might be more fun than finding them. Either that or I'm growing up (weird).

Also while with these friends, I got to go to a game of the International Women's World Championships. It was Russia vs. USA, and USA won 9-0 (I'm not a hockey person, but I'm pretty sure that score falls in the category of athletic annihilation). It was a cool thing to watch, and I was impressed by one woman on the US team who was ferocious for her size; but that may just be my ignorance of the sport (are most female hockey players fiery and petite?). It was really cool to watch and I got into it despite the fact that I'd never seen a hockey match in my life. Here are some pictures:

Teams lining up; blue jerseys are USA.

Final Score.

It was hard to get action shots on my phone (I tried, trust me). And even if I could they wouldn't do justice to how impressive it was in person. Also, here's the page with what appears to be the goings-on of the tournament, for those interested.

Thanks for reading!

Visiting My Internship

It's spring break, and this past week, a midst my chillin out, maxin, relaxin all cool and shootin some b-ball outside of the school (caught some Fresh Prince re-runs), I also got to make a visit to my upcoming summer internship (for which I am totally stoked).

The organization is called Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees (MVRCR), located in Utica, New York. It's up to me to decide for the most part what I want to do with my time there this summer, which is both a curse and a blessing because as an organization, they offer a lot; everything from setting up refugees in their new apartment upon arrival in Utica, to ESL classes and job finding assistance. This is really exciting, because it gives me an opportunity as an Anthro major to interact with and learn a lot from people all over the world, as well as learn about how refugees and organizations like MVRCR interact with the federal government, with the community in which they exist, and how resettlement as a whole affects refugees and their cultural retention.

I went to visit this past Tuesday to meet with the Intern and Volunteer Coordinator, where we talked for a while, she told me everything that the center offered, and we took a small tour of the building. I learned that they put on an international film festival in the fall, and at the Boilermaker run (a 15k in Utica) in the summer they have the "international mile", where different cultures represent themselves for a mile-long stretch along the course. Also, as an intern, I would have the opportunity to start a "club" at the center, where I would be able to do an 8-week class on a topic of my choice (i.e photography, painting, music, etc.). The idea behind this is to have things at the center for refugees to do for fun, because the initial adjustments of resettlement can be isolating and very challenging.

I'm really excited to start this summer, and I'll be sure to keep this blog updated about my experiences working here this summer!

Thanks for reading!

Where is the snow you ask? Labrador Mtn.

Since I've been home, there hasn't been much snow in where I live; and I'm guessing we're not the exception, as indicated by many of my friends' facebook and twitter updates.

But on Christmas Eve my dad and I were fortunate enough to get a small dose of Winter Wonderland en route to my home mountain, Labrador, in Truxton, NY. Here are some pictures from my drive with my dad on Shackham Road through Morgan Hill State Forest:

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas, even though the rest of the state wasn't. Unfortunately, the rest of the state still doesn't, but the area around Lab has continued to get some snow, and they're making a ton as well. Even though my skiing situation is pretty solid, I'm still crossing my fingers to let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Plans for Break.

I've now been home for a week to the day. It's been nice to unwind and see family, chill with my dog and cats, watch some movies and just relax in general. But I can only do so much relaxing before I get bored, and let me tell you, there's a limit to how much Christmas advertising I can take in between my Law and Order and NCIS reruns. I've become quite bored.

As a result of this boredom, I've decided to be productive. There are a few things I have to get done over break (fill out an I-9 and W-4, draft a resume and write a paper for Freshman Seminar). But I don't want to be working my entire break; so here are a few personal goals I've set for myself, as well as other things I'd like to accomplish on my time off.

Skiing Faster

http://bit.ly/soNfKV

I've mentioned here before that I've had the opportunity to train dry land with the ski team this fall. Well, the last Thursday of the semester before break I got to run gates for the first time this season, and I gotta say after looking at the video my coaches took, my runs were rough around the edges to say the least (not like Ted Ligety, pictured above). There's a few things I need to be working on if I want to race faster and make the team next year; so over break I'll be skiing, running gates and getting to the gym as much as possible. The only problem is that I have a cough that won't go away, and that leads me to my next goal.

Getting Healthy
I've had a cough since September that has not gone away. The rest of my body feels healthy, but when I work out, if it's cold or if I've been lying down for a while, I get this cough that sounds like my left lung is trying to fight it's way out of my chest. I don't mean to complain, but it's a nuisance and something I plan to get rid of over break. Since I'm home I hope I can get more sleep, eat better and follow all my doctor's directions so that by the time I get back to school I'll be healthy and ready to go; hopefully I'll be better even before that.

Guitar
This one is a little ambitious, because the extent of my guitar knowledge is about 5 lessons from when I was 12 (aka nil), after I got a guitar for Christmas. I still have my guitar, so my goal is to teach myself some basics and learn a song before I go back to school. People say that guitar is overrated and that everyone can play it. I hope at least the latter is true.

Dance Moves

http://bit.ly/rS0e6B

I am not ashamed; I want to learn some dance moves. My friends Nathan, Harper, Carlos and I have managed to learn the Party Rock Anthem as well as the And We Danced dance segments, and we've pledged to perfect those and try to learn some other crazy moves as well (Nathan wants to be able to windmill). Not quite sure which crazy dance move I'll try to learn, but I'm sure I'll think of something soon ;)

Resume
This is less of a bummer than it sounds, because it's something that any college student should have for internships and other jobs; also, because I'm really excited about the internship I'm building this resume for. I live in Rome NY, close to Utica NY (I tell people I'm from Syracuse, though, because that's where I grew up and I still don't know Rome very well) where there is a huge refugee population. The Mohawk Valley Refugee Center in Utica offers various forms of support for resettled refugees in the area, and the internship I'm applying to for this summer is with this organization. I'm really excited about this opportunity because it's in line with what I plan to pursue as a career after college. I've already contacted the woman in charge of the internships, and it looks promising!

So those are my plans for break! If you have any questions / comments, feel free to contact me!

Thanks for reading!

It's a small world!

This is a funny story I thought I'd share (albeit a week after the fact) about returning home last week for Thanksgiving break.

I was driving back with my parents (who had come up Monday to spend a little time in Burlington) Tuesday evening, when we took a quick bathroom break at a McDonald's in Whitehall, NY. As I opened the door to walk in, a girl was leaving wearing an SMC hoodie, and I said,"Hey, I go to Saint Mike's!"

So then we started talking and we discovered we were both from NY (when I first asked her where she lived, she said "the 4's. oh wait, you mean home?") and then I asked her what town and she said Rome; aka the small town my family just moved to about a year ago when I was in Poland.

We all couldn't believe it, I learned that she was a senior, and my parents asked if they had any mutual friends in Rome; all in all it was a pretty funny experience! Small world, huh?

Thanks for reading!

Thanksgiving!

This is the first time I've been home from Saint Mike's since I left for school in August, so there were some things I've been missing from home, and some things that I now miss from school. So, I decided to make a quick list of things that I'm thankful for in life both at school and at home!

At home; cooking for myself. Alliot food get's old; it's nice to be able to whip up something to eat with the ingredients that you want, whenever you want.


At school; no dishes. Then again, there's a conveyor belt for dishes in Alliot... no conveyor belt for dishes in my kitchen.

At home; my room. My dorm room at school is nice and all, but there's nothing like being in your room at home. Plus my room at home is like 1.5 times the size of my room at school; definitely thankful for that!


At school; beautiful Vermont. Then again, it's nice to roll over in the morning and look out my window at the Green Mountains!


At home; family and pets. Being away, you start to miss your dogs/cats. And your siblings... and your parents... but mostly your dogs/cats.


At school; friends. A lot of people get to see friends when they go home... but all my friends live an hour away since my family moved after high school, and I only get to see them once in a while. So I definitely miss all my college friends when I'm not at SMC!


In general. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be a student, a skier, a traveler and all-the-other-things-I-get-to-do-er, and that I have a family and awesome friends that support me! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thanks for reading!