SLI Fellows

Hi Everyone!

Hows it going? The weekend is finally here and it is just so nice to relax!

Tomorrow I am going snowboarding with some friends and we are all so excited. We have three car loads full of people and we are pumped. 

However, I am going to discuss what I did last weekend in my blog. I am a new member of the Siena Leadership Institute. Along with 13 other sophomores, I am a leadership fellow on campus. It is a one year commitment and only spring semester sophomores can apply. It is from January 2009 to December 2009. We just had a weekend retreat at the Carondelet Hospitality Center. It is about 5 minutes away from school and it is basically a retirement home for 80 nuns. As soon as we said that we go to Siena, they absolutely loved us. These were definitely cute old ladies. I'm not trying to brag, but I made some friends! 

The purpose of the retreat was so we can all get to know each other. In this upcoming year, we are going to learn how to be better leaders on campus. Some of our goals are to improve our public speaking skills, communication skills, and to work effectively and respectfully with others. Our first task as SLI fellows is to come up with a community service project. 

I am really excited about this. In my summers back home, I volunteer with childhood cancer patients and it is really life changing. Along with interning with Smith Barney, and working for my brother's store, and taking summer classes at SUNY Stony Brook, my summers get kind of busy, but working with these kids really makes it so much better. 

Needless to say, I am expecting a big community service project out of our group. I do not want to just volunteer for one day and then say, well we fulfilled our requirement and that's that. I want to make it a weekly thing. All the fellows can bond together as a team and we can really make a difference! So if anyone has any suggestions, let me know! 

Time to pick up some last minute snowboarding gear for tomorrow!

Talk to you soon,

Patrick

Thinking About Summer

Although the snow keeps falling, its time for me to start thinking about Summer. Let me explain. While there are a number of opportunities for Siena students interested in the field of law, the most exciting opportunity available is the Summer Legal Fellows Program. Students selected for the program are sent to various law schools throughout the Northeast, including schools like Fordham in New York City, Northeastern University in Boston, American University in Washington D.C. and, if you want to stay local, Albany. Students engage in legal research which is then used by professionals in the field. In the past, Siena students have worked on anything from environmental protection to crafting legislation on issues such as voter representation.

The reason I am writing this now is that I have decided to apply for the program. When people ask me what career I want to pursue I always say that I want to be an attorney. To be honest though, I am not entirely sure of that. Experiencing first-hand what legal research entails will help me to determine whether or not I want to actually go to law school. Applications are due by February 18th, and individuals who are selected for the program will be notified by April 15th. Wish me luck!

Until Next Time,
Mike DiSiena

I seriously do not know what's wrong with me today...I'm seriously forgetting everything. Actually, it's kind of a continuation from last night. :o( Forgetting to finish my Spanish homework, forgetting to take my medicine, forgetting about my Shakespeare reading, forgetting my tour! I don’t understand, because I'm usually a really good about keeping a planner and knowing where I have to be when...today it just isn’t in the cards for me I guess...

Anyway, I'm going skiing tomorrow :-/ I really don't even know if I like it yet, considering the first time I ever did it was last year, and I spent most of the day on my butt or upset and frustrated. But everyone tells me once I learn I'll love it... so I guess I'll see how it goes. My boyfriend, Keith, is a really really good skier, and it's kind of discouraging at times because of how good he is. :o( I hope tomorrow is better.

Wow, I just sound like Debby downer today don't I? Well, at least there's only one more class today. Time to shower... talk to you soon! Everyone have a good weekend!

The Snow day!

Hey everyone, how are yah? The other day we had one of the most glorious days of winter, a day that every kid hopes for when the first snow flake falls from the sky, thats right we got a half-day snow day. Now I thought out of high school, my hopes of taking time off for snow days were going to be incredibly slim, but once again in life I'm wrong! :) This school seems like its jinxed. I feel like we get hit harder here with precipitation than any of the surrounding towns. When the ice storm hit in december we were the only school to have our exams cancelled and allowed to get out early and now the snow seems like its piling up by the day. I enjoyed my time off by lazily watching T.V. with a bunch of my buddies from the dorms, playing a little X-Box 360, then a little homework to close out the night. Nothing too crazy. I wanted to play round in the snow for a bit during the afternoon. You know a little snow football with the crew from our hall, but we got some freezing rain that put an end to that. If the snow isn't powder it's no fun to play in, I mean who wants to slip and slide around an ice covered cust? Tonight we have a game for hockey. It's pretty big. We travel to Connecticut. If we don't win we could drop in the rankings but if we win we could potentially move up, so keep ur fingers crossed!

Keep it real, Josh.....

Ok seriously.

Hello all! Holy Moly, I haven't blogged in wayyyyyyy too long! It's been quite hectic for me here at Siena, and even at home this break was a little bit crazy. So I guess let's start with vacation and such!

Well, since finals were CANCELLED :-D I only had to take one which was awesome! As soon as I got home though, work started. I seriously worked everyday from the day I got home to Christmas Day, then every day till New Year's Day, then every day after that until like 3 days before we came back to school. Yea, its money, but still! I feel like I had no vacation! Besides that though, the holidays were really really nice. And so much fun!

This semester is a little bit crazy for me. I'm taking 4 English classes, which, as you can guess, is A LOT of reading and writing. But it's my major, so I guess I'll just have to stick it out. Although I'm taking 4 English classes, they're actually all pretty interesting. Gender and Power in Film, Survey of Brit Lit II, Poetry, and Shakespeare. To all you science and business majors out there, this may sound like death. To me, Physics is like Chinese. So we all have our own little niches :o)

I'm really proud of myself, because I'm starting to whip my butt into shape again. (FINALLY). Enough slacking off, and back to the gym it is! Thank goodness!

My application for London isn't due until March 27th, which is good, because I'm not quite finished. Figures, I save the hardest part for last, the personal statement! But its totally worth it. We got the schedule/ itinerary, and I CANT WAIT! Speaking of which, I have to go meet with Dr. Leslie (English Department Professor) about my internship in London. So let me run! I'll keep you posted on the process!

Yes We Did!

So as I said before, I went to Washington DC for the Inauguration (thanks Siena!). It was a great time. I saw Colin Powell, Al Gore, went to the concert with Usher, Beyonce, U2, and everyone else. I heard Obama speak to hundreds of thousands, and I joined millions in downtown DC on Inauguration Day. I'm not at my laptop right now, so I don't have all my pictures to share, but this one was taken right next to the Washington Monument, and I thought it was a pretty telling photo. Some highlights of the trip were when everyone was singing "One Love" out on the National Mall, when film director Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight) gave me permission to print a poem of his in Siena's Promethean, the moment Barack was sworn in, and trying to run up a really long down escalator at 2 in the morning in the DC metro system.

The semester is back in swing. Mr Siena is coming up and I'm pretty excited for that. We start rehearsals for Doubt tonight. And in 10 minutes I have my Irish Literature class! So with that I will be off. As soon as I can upload a couple more pictures for you guys to see what DC was like last week I will. Some of you are winding down your last year in high school. Be excited but keep up good work!

La Dolce Vita

Ciao Tutti!! (hey everyone!)

Gregorio here, writing to you from the REAL Siena in Italy! I am studying abroad here for the semester so be sure to stay tuned to my blog! I arrived here in Siena on Jan 15th. The study abroad program in Siena, Italy, is one of the most authentic and gives students the opportunity to really immerse themselves in Italian culture. I am doing a home-stay (as do all of us) with an Italian family. My family is absolutely fantastic! they are such a typical italian family, its so funny! And its so awesome because my host mom has her own cooking school! so, needless to say, the food has been A-MAZING. I was so nervous that i was going to come back 30 pounds heavier, but the town of Siena is in the hills of Tuscany so there is TONS of walking and lotsssss of hills....so i'm hoping it will balance out all the pasta! This weekend we went to Florence which is like an hour away from Siena. We walked all over, saw the duomo (big cathedral) and went to the Uffizi gallery which has like the elite collection of Italian rennissance art in all of Europe. It was so amazing I absolutely love that city!
Classes have been quite intense. When we arrived we took an Italian language placement exam. There is no requirement that says you have to speak Italian to study here. In fact, most of the kids have never taken Italian before. I actually am pretty proficient in Italian and so they placed me in avanzato (advanced). The first 3 weeks are only Italian class before the semester classes begin. For 5 hours a day my class speaks only in Italian...there are only 5 of us in advanced and its more like discussion than actual class, but its quite intense. After the 3 weeks of italian is up they are taking us on a group excursion to the dolomites which is up further north in Italy in the Apls..very exciting.

Hi Everybody!

Its good to be back! It is often said that when going on a trip, half the fun is getting there. I think that that is true. The last time I left a blog, Siena had closed for the semester due to an ice storm prior to finals being administered. The situation for taking finals was very much in limbo, but, as it turns out, I did end up having to take one upon my return to school on the 17th of January. As it turns out, I was vacationing in 'The Happiest Place on Earth" (next to Siena, of course) right up until the morning of the 17th. I caught a plane at 8:30, flew to Albany International Airport, drove to Siena, and promptly took my final at 1:30.

After that though, my day was not even close to being over. Following my exam, I endured a four hour long Mock Trial practice session. Our competition is February 13th so it is crunch time and all hands are on deck.

It has been a quick start once again, here at Siena!

Until Next Time,
Mike DiSiena

Spring 09

Spring 2009

A new semester has officially started. Classes will certainly keep me busy this year, but I'm excited for it. The best part of this semester is that some of my friends who studied abroad last semester are finally back! The day before classes started, all my friends got together and they all shared stories of when they were abroad. The went to london, spain, ecuador, and a few other countries. We've also been spending a lot of time together lately. The past two days, we've all had dinner together which was nice. Not having enough chairs around the table is always a good problem to have.

But now i must depart, we're having a huge Grey's Anatomy party over in Padua. I just caught up on the old episodes this morning, so I'm ready! Thursday nights at 9:00 is always a good time.

Until next time,

Indira

Back to School!

Hey everyone how are you? School is in and it's back to the books. I'm sad that break is over but I'm also excited to be back at school with my friends. I missed hockey a lot. We had a brutal training camp a week before school started and the team definitely got whipped into shape fast! Between the 6 AM practices, the NY Boxing and the dryland training, we were exhausted by the end of the day. I know it sounds weird that a hockey team goes to boxing, but its an excellent work out. Our coach just thought of it for the team this year and most of the guys including myself are continuing to go during the season to stay in shape. I'm still hoping for the six pack abs for the girls although I know the trainer isn't a miracle worker! :) Academically, we just started classes today. Due to the ice storm we got last December, exam week was this weekend right on until Tuesday. Most of my exams were optional and I was content with my grade so I only had to take my Biology exam. It was tough, but I did well. I've had three classes so far. Instead of taking Biology, I elected to take English this semester. I decided Biology wasn't my thing and now that I want to be a Chemistry major I don't have to take it anyways. I had English, Calculus, and Foundations today. This week is pretty easy. Professors are easing us into the curriculum and we'll start strong on Monday. Needless to say I still have homework, but hey it's not too bad....yet. ;)

Take it easy!

Josh

So, I went to Greece?

Hi Everyone,

Sorry that I have not blogged in a little while. Today is the official first day to Spring Semester! I don't believe it. Spring semester sophomore year, here we go! My first class today is German Cinema at 1:30, then I have Managerial Accounting at 3 and Finance at 6! It's going to be a long day, but I am so pumped to get back into the swing of things.

I missed Siena so much over break and am so happy to be back. Yesterday, I went snowboarding with my roommates and some other friends. We had two cars full of people and had so much fun. Of course, I feel like a Monday morning quarterback today but it was so worth it. We go snowboarding once a week, its our new tradition.

So anyway, more importantly, I went to Greece over break!!! I took an upper level religion class at Siena called St. Paul in Greece. We studied the writings and teachings of St. Paul and the country of Greece in class in preparation for our 18 day study tour. We saw everything in Greece! It was amazing, and I now speak about 25 words of Greek!

We had class once a week for an hour and mostly we accomplished housekeeping tasks that enabled us to go abroad for this study tour. Every student prepared a site report presentation in class. We wrote a huge paper on a site in Greece that we were going to visit and we delivered it to the class at the actual site! I wrote about Delphi and the Temple of Apollo. It was awesome actually seeing the stuff that most people just see in textbooks. I was really able to take it all in! We started and finished our trip in the city of Athens. We saw over 10 cities and stayed in 7 hotels! It was so much traveling and definitely was not easy.

We also had to keep a travel journal. We wrote everyday on the sites we saw, how we were feeling and what we were up too! Talk about an great souvenir!

The trip really opened my eyes to so many different things. First, I am going to study abroad in England for a semester next year. So, by going to Greece for 18 days, I had a sneak preview of what life is like abroad. Also, I learned so much about Greek culture and saw so many amazing things! The trip changed my life. For the better.

*I have attached a picture above, of myself and Father Dennis in front of the Parthenon.

LESS THAN 1 WEEK!!

Happy New Year!!
Just wanted to write real quick to check in and tell everyone how excited I am. In less than a week I will be leaving for my semester abroad in Siena, Italy. I can't waittttttt!!!!!
Stay tuned to my blog for lots of stories and pictures!!

Ciao,
Gregorio