Snowshoes and Romcoms

After much delay (thank you, homework), your deepest desire to know how my weekend went can finally be satisfied! Just kidding - you should really aim higher than that.

Snowshoeing with the Wilderness Program was a roaring success; although it was cold, we warmed up as soon as we started moving, and the two students leading the trip were well-equipped to deal with our lack of knowledge. According to my phone, we hiked about 6.3 miles, round trip - not bad for a Saturday! We went to Mount Belvidere, which is near Lowell, Vermont, and is about an hour and a half northeast of Saint Mike's.

We wound up using microspikes on our overboots instead of the snowshoes, but that may have actually made it easier. The highlight of the trek for me was definitely seeing moose tracks! You don't realize how big an animal is until each footprint is the size of your hand and each print is a foot and a half apart. Whoa. I also thought it was cool to see the leaf-buds on the trees, courtesy of the previous week's warm weather, although they're at least a month ahead of schedule. 

On the drive back (and don't worry, you don't need a car to go on a wilderness trip - they drive you), I saw a house surrounded by maple trees that had been tapped for syrup! I have no idea if that is the correct terminology (never having made maple syrup myself), but I thought that was pretty cool. I also experienced the "purple mountains' majesty" in America, The Beautiful. I don't know which mountains the song actually refers to, but be it because of the weather or otherwise, the mountains actually looked tinged purple on the way back. Quirk of Vermont, I suppose.

In honor of the upcoming Valentine's Day, Her Campus SMC hosted its very first event with Galentine's Day on Thursday, as a sort of "holiday" for those of us who are single pringles. We hosted in McCarthy Recital Hall, and featured a cheesy movie, hot cocoa, popcorn, and Valentine's themed candy. Due to technical difficulties, we got off to a rough start, but once that was resolved, everything proceeded swimmingly! I saw a lot of people who are not active in Her Campus, so hopefully more people are finding out about us. 

Today's temperature has a high of ZERO, so I doubt I will be doing anything particularly exciting today, but that just provides an excuse to make hot chocolate, so things could be worse. Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers, single pringles or otherwise!

Laura

International Crepe Day

     Hello, friends! This post is a little late, I know, but I found out about International Crepe Day (read: the awesome day you can get FREE CREPES) and decided to wait so you could hear all about it.

     As you might have guessed, International Crepe Day = free crepes, courtesy of The Skinny Pancake, which is fast becoming one of my favorite places. They gave customers a choice of the Pure and Simple (plain crepe with sugar), the Nutella (which speaks for itself), and the Pooh Bear. I had the Pooh Bear, and it was amazing!

     Contrary to how that may sound, I did not destroy the childhoods of people everywhere - no beloved yellow bears were involved. Rather, the Pooh Bear crepe comes topped with cinnamon sugar and honey: a combination I had not expected but will definitely be trying on other food. Of course, the taste is only improved by the fact that, as far as I know (and I believe I have referenced this in another post), The Skinny Pancake's ingredients are all Vermont-sourced - which includes awesome non-storemade honey!
     I am also excited to tell you that Her Campus is officially active at Saint Mike's! New articles will be published weekly; also check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat (hercampussmcvt)!
     Next week's post will be about my snowshowing adventure on Mount Belvidere; stay tuned!
Laura

First Year, Part TWO!

     Winter break is over, and I am (somehow) already in my second semester of college! Unbelievable. The snow has also started, much to my delight - there was a disappointing lack of any while I was home. Although considering New Jersey just got about three feet of snow, I would MUCH rather be here. I love snow, but blizzards (and power loss) are not my cup of tea. On that note, I have probably eight kinds of tea and I would definitely (if I haven't said so already) count my electric teapot as a necessity; it functions as both a teapot and a pitcher. Dorm tip!
     Saint Mike's in the winter is not that different from Saint Mike's in the fall; everyone just wears more layers and it seems sunnier, since the light reflects off the snow. One might think that less happens now, because it is cold(er). But not to worry - we still have a lot to do! And by a lot I mean activities outside skiing, snowboarding, and whatever else happens on one of the ski mountains.
     This week there are several events on diversity in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., including a guest speaker, a student forum, and a slam poetry competition. Very exciting! The Wilderness Program is going strong - their trips are just snow and ice-based now. I am going snowshoeing in two weeks, and there are ice-climbing trips and other options as well, I believe. I have found out more about the Saint Mike's Culture Pass, which lets SMC students get $10 tickets produced by the Flynn Theater (and regular-priced tickets to other events as well of course). There may be other benefits to the pass, but I have not found out about those yet. One of my professors is also taking my class to a Beethoven concert next month; apparently professors can take their students to one Flynn event per class per semester. Very cool!
     Something I have just joined that I am really excited about is Her Campus - we just got a Saint Mike's chapter established here. Her Campus is essentially an online magazine written by students for students, so what we publish connects directly to what's happening on campus. The Her Campus website as a whole is an excellent resource for female college students (and does have articles of use to male college students - we're not leaving you out!). Although there is a large amount of pop culture content, Her Campus also has sections about job advice and all areas of health and well-being. Those two sections are my personal favorites; although I might be able to find pop culture stories elsewhere, finding job and health advice in understandable terms is very difficult but much appreciated. We will be officially active in terms of regular article publication on February 2, but definitely check us out before then!
     My goal with this post was to remind myself what I have been doing, since the start of the semester is always a bit crazy, and to provide an insider's perspective of the winter life at SMC. Hope it helped!

See you next week,
Laura

Christmas Tree Sightings

As I sit listening to Christmas carols (because what is December but the month for listening to obscene amounts of Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole), I am astounded by the current lack of snow outside my window. Global warming, anyone?

But regardless of the snow or lack thereof, there are still CHRISTMAS TREES everywhere! As a Catholic college, Saint Mike's is free to decorate with as much as pine and red ribbon as is deemed necessary. We may not push Catholicism, but it's sort of hard to ignore at Christmastime, especially since the chapel bells ring at random times (That are probably on a set schedule I can't figure out) and have switched to Advent tunes. Therefore, I have decided to regale you with all of the Christmas trees I have seen on campus, excluding repeats and including the two I saw in Burlington last night. Without further ado, the Saint Mike's trees: 

This is my baby purple tinsel tree, which I am very proud of, even though it is barely two feet tall. There is a very convenient overlap when your favorite color and your school color are the same.

Please excuse the blurry picture - night photography is not my specialty. This is the only outdoor tree I saw; it is a massive fir (pine?) tree next to the chapel that I am presuming can be seen from the street.

I found this small tree, decked out in the French colors, hanging out in the building where the French professors have their offices. 

A version of this tree is on both the second and third floors of Dion - if you cannot see, there are a lovely angel at the top and some pretty, festively colored ornaments.

This lovely specimen can be found on the first floor of the Dion Student Center, across from Einstein's. In addition to a snazzy snowflake topper and the classic white lights with silver tinsel, there is a strand of paper cranes that are a nice, non-traditional touch. This was by far my favorite of the "school trees."

I was down in Burlington last night to celebrate a friend's birthday. If you have as yet not experienced a Burlington Christmas (not that I can say I truly have), that is something that is absolutely necessary. There are Christmas lights everywhere, but unlike most places, they actually suit Burlington; Church Street looks like something out of a movie.

The other end of Church Street has a very tall Christmas tree, probably about the same size as the one by the chapel at Saint Mike's, which contributes to my "I live in a postcard" mentality:

My final tree was in Sweetwater's, which is a very reasonably priced restaurant that has a wide variety of options to suit all tastes and diets. They also have a bar, but I am unqualified to comment on that for several years. I ate there last night, in their elevated seating (that could probably also be termed a loft), and to our delight, there was a Christmas tree across from our table! If you are wondering about the Vermont seal behind the tree, that is leftover decoration from when the building was (according to a little research on my part) the Burlington Trust Company: a bank. Much of the original decor remains, although there have been significant updates. Definitely check out Sweetwater's!

This is my last post until the new year; next week is finals week so I will not be doing much other than studying, and after that I will be HOME for an entire MONTH!!! I leave you with this festive image, courtesy of the local bus system: 

Until 2016,

Laura