Halloween...and some random stuff going on...

Hey everyone...Havent been on in a while. We had exams all last week so its been brutal studying for big tests and cramming essays in before midterms were supposed to come out. On a lighter note, Halloween is here! YAY! After long weeks its nice to unwind and dress up and release the inner child once again. Friday night my roomate and I are dressing up as hockey players, well he's gonna be coach bombay from the mighty ducks and i'm going to be a player, but saturday night we are teaming up to be Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World. I'm so excited. I'll be sure to put pictures up of the weekend. Hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween...

Peace, Josh Baillargeon....

Happy Almost Halloween!

Hey guys,

So first I would like to thank Indira for the bday shout out. It is true, I did turn 21 on Monday. It was such a strange feeling. But it was a really good day. I did wake up to a surprise from Indira, my roomie... she had covered our whole room in streamers! I was trapped in my bed! But it was really creative. Then I went to class all day. AND THEN I went to Dale Miller's restaurant in Albany, which is an amazing place! I dressed up in my favorite red dress, had my first cocktail, and got a postively delicious rack of lamb. I finished the night off with chocolate ganache :-)

As of right now, I just put the finishing touches on my Halloween costume. I'm going to be Aluminum this year! Yes, aluminum. I made a skirt out of 2 tiers of strips of aluminum foil, and I made a bodice out of aluminum foil, and a headband, and earrings, and bracelets. I'm going all out! Oh, and I have all of the chemical info for Aluminum on my costume, too! I love science <3

Leanne... it looks like you are certainly in the Halloween spirit! Cool pics!
And Mike... congrats on your LSATs. That is quite an accomplishment!

I hope everyone has a fun Halloween! Be safe!

~B

Happy Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Bianca!

Yes thats right, today is Bianca's birthday! yay! so happy birthday to my wonderful roommate!
Last night I decorated our room with streamers while Bianca was sleeping. She woke up this morning with a wonderful surprise!

So I've been extremely busy lately working with admissions on a special project. We're in the process of filming a virtual tour. That means that once we're done with our project, prospective students will be able to click on the link on the Siena website and get a filmed tour of campus. Eric Guzman and I would be your tour guides!

You'd get to see all the hot spots on campus right from your computer! And then of course I'm going to tell you to actually visit Siena in person and get a personalized tour from one of our many fantastic tour guides.

Well, I'll be sure to keep you folks updated on our project! But for now, I've got plenty of homework to return to.

Until next time,

Just "Spook-tacular".

My Residents call me "Mom" so this seemed fitting.
Marvin, our hall "pet"
My favorite part might just be the creepy joker cat on this sign.

This one is a little demonic, and has actually creeped out some of the boys
This is my favorite! It has scared so many people when they look in the mirror (the quote, not my face =P)
Seeing dead people is normal, right?
I told my residents this is what happens to mischievous students.
A complete overview. Nice, dark and spooky. (It's even better at night)
Ironically enough, Halloween is actually my least favorite day of the year.


Happy Monday, Everyone!

It has been quite the week! I was thinking before I wrote this how all my posts revolve around fun activities, so I was going to gear this posts towards academics, But, honestly... Balance sheets, reading Jonah, learning equations, Canadian Literature and Cognitive Dissonance, although educational, collectively pale in comparison to anything else I do... So, this post will not be about academics :)

On that note, last week was quite an adventure! First, going off the theme of my corny title (I'm sorry, I had to) I have had quite the "fright-astic" week. First, I went to the midnight screening of Saw VI... Honestly, I don't see the appeal of those movies. It was just nasty. (my friend was counting down the minutes to the premiere, so I decided it'd be fun to go with her). We got back to campus around 2:30 am, and parents- have no fear- I completed all my work prior to going, and I went to my 8:15 class. Friday, after all my classes and errands I decorated my hallway for Halloween. Going off of the eerie movie that I saw the previous evening, I decided to really deck out the hallway. I must say, we may have outdone ourselves. It has gotten to the point where public safety officers are making trips just to see the floor I live on (the entire floor is decorated). Saturday, I saw "Paranormal Activity" and left the theatre shaking/crying and didn't sleep at all! My residents took that as a good opportunity to scare me even more and throughout the night they kept making stomping noises and shadows like in the movie.. they're real hilarious.

But, my favorite activity of this past week was the High Ropes Course. As an Resident Assistant it's my job to do different programs with our residents... It's also my favorite aspect of the job. The High Ropes Course is located on campus and it's just a great way to create trust, and have some fun outdoors. Now, my summer readers will know that my greatest accomplishment during training was climbing a ten foot wall... Well, that feat is dismal in comparison to what I did yesterday. My biggest fear is heights, but yesterday I scaled up a tree, and walked across a wire 40 ft in the air! It was sensational! I was terrified at first, and wanted to come down when I got to the top of the ladder, but with much encouragement I made it! It was such an amazing feeling too. I can't wait to do the activity again in the spring.

Now, with all that fun I do have plenty of work to keep me busy once again. This morning I had a marketing test, and this week I have a Religion Midterm. I'm already well prepared, so I'm not too worried. (I don't stress.. in case you couldn't tell) Saturday, besides being Halloween, my residents and I are going paintballing as another program. It's been the most anticipated program of the month :)

Anyway, I'm sorry if this post is a little lengthy... I just couldn't narrow it all down for you!

I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories next week for you!

Until then,
-Leanne

P.S- Of course I have pictures for you! Attached are pictures of my Hallway. Imagine waking up to this every morning :)

P.P.S- CONGRATULATIONS, MIKE! That is quite an accomplishment!

And the verdict is....

So, if you have been following my LSAT (the test for law school admission) travails, you may know that I should have gotten my score by now. Well, I did, and I'm pretty satisfied with the 163 that I earned. Basically, one earns one's score by answering typically 100 questions on the test. The number of questions answered correctly is converted into a scale ranging between 120 and 180. To get into law school you probably need to get at least a 151, which puts you at the 50th percentile of all test takers, meaning, 50% scored higher than you, and 50% scored lower than you. A 163 puts me at the 88th percentile of test takers across the country. Not bad, but according to one of my instructors who knows the ins and outs of the LSAT, I have the potential to perform about five points higher (which in LSAT terms, is pretty significant). So he encouraged me to take the test again in December. I'm not one to gripe, but I am not a fan of the idea of getting prepared for the test again. It'll take a good deal of time and effort, not to mention several invocations of St. Joseph of Cupertino. In the end though, I figure you only live once, and that you should take every opportunity that presents itself to you. The difference between a 163 and, say, a 168 is the difference between finishing at the 88th percentile and the rarefied 96th percentile. Needless to say, I would sympathize with you guys that have to juggle all these commitments competing for your attention. In any case,as they say "Let the games begin!"

Excitement and Stress

Hey guys!

Ok so my birthday is coming up on Monday. I'm going to be 21! I feel so old. But I am really looking forward to this one. My family has been scheming up some kind of a surprise for me, so I'm excited to find out what it is. I just love birthdays. I always wear a ribbon in my hair on my birthday that says "Happy Birthday" on it. You guys might not know this about me, but I'm a ribbon girl. I wear ribbons in my hair as often as I can. I think that's a habit that I caught from the Academy of the Holy Names, which is the high school I went to. Anyone know it or go there? I had four great years there, and I think if I ever have daughters I would like to send them there in the future.

Anyway, so even with all of this excitement and suspense, I'm starting to feel a huge overwhelming sense of stress right now. We're right smack dab in the middle of the semester, which means more exams, harder assignments and projects, and a lot more work. It also does not help that the deadline for applying to graduate school is fast approaching. I'm in the middle of applying to schools right now. It is definitely giving me a flash back to senior year of high school... same story. Except instead of SATs it's GREs, and my resume is a lot longer now. But I still have to fill out the application, mail in my transcripts, recommendation letters, and write a kind of essay (a.k.a. personal statement). Is anyone going through that right now? I know how tough it is. We're gonna get through it! And when we do, we'll be able to breathe again. Then in a few more months we'll have to start stressing about decisions!

Oh! I forgot, I wanted to show you guys a picture from one of my stress relievers two weekends ago. My family, Indira (my roomie and fellow blogger), and I went apple picking at Goold Orchards for the Apple Festival there last Sunday. It was lots of fun. I'm a big fan of doing fun things here and there, just getting outside and taking a break from life for a while. Here they are:

Me climbing in a tree! I was trying to reach the Golden Delicious!

Indira eating a nice, tasty apple!

Well... I'm off to bed for now. I'll let you guys know how everything goes from birthday fun to grad school stress.

~Bianca

Mama said there'd be days like this...

Hi Everyone,

I am so sorry that I have not blogged in a while. I do not think I have ever been so busy in my Siena career as I have been these past two weeks. Junior year is going really well however a lot of hard work and effort is required to experience success. I literally did homework, lab work and classes from 1:30pm-9:15pm today. Needless to say, my finance classes are really tough! However I did get a twenty minute dinner break so at-least I'm eating!

Some exciting news that I am able to share directly relates to our readers from the Westchester area. I am the student speaker on November 19 at the Tarrytown Marriott for prospective students!! i.e. you guys!

So definitely sign up, if you haven't already done so. As it will be a great time!

Unfortunately, the work does not stop and I have to get back to reading the textbook for class tomorrow morning bright and early at 9:20 am!

Looking forward to blogging again,

Patrick

Three day weekends are awesome!

Don't you love three day weekends? I know I do! I had a chance to go home this past weekend because we didn't have classes on Friday! Yay! I live in CT so I drove home on Thursday night after my Endocrinology Lab. I carpooled with Joe, he lives in the next town over from me. And talk about crazy weather, anyone who lives further south knows what I mean! It was clear skies in Albany and once we crossed over into MA and CT, we had rain and snow! Mid October and we're already getting snow. Jeez, I guess I better get the snow boots out! But its not so bad here in Albany now. Today was chilly, but still sweatshirt/light coat kind of weather.

And now its time to get back into the swing of things. Having a long weekend was awesome, especially since I got to go home and see family, but I got absolutely no work done! So today and tomorrow will be slightly work intensive. I really need to get some work done on my Honors Thesis. Its basically a 40+ page paper that you write over the course of a year. You can write it on whatever you want to and you choose a faculty member to be your mentor and help you through the process. By the time you graduate, your paper is published which is something to add to your list of accomplishments. I'm still in the very beginning stages of my thesis, so I'm still doing research and putting together a survey that I will eventually give out. I'll keep you folks posted on my progress with that.

Well, I suppose I should get back to work now.

Until next time...

(ps, I decided to copy Bianca and change my font color. Green is my favorite color, so get used to seeing it!)

Hump Week.

Happy Monday, Everyone!

I have finally returned to the good ol' Siena after an elongated "Presidents" weekend. Being home was so wonderful. Parents, don't let your kids fool you. We may act all "cool" because we don't live at home anymore, but rest assured... being home means the world to us.

In the words of Julia Childs: "I LOVE TO EAT!". And, I'm so good at it! This weekend for me was all about family, and eating.. it's what us Italians do. Wednesday (I went home a day earlier than proposed) I spent 3 hours at our family restaurant just sitting at the bar, eating, and catching up with the bartender. Thursday, we went to my Dads favorite old school Italian restaurant called "Stellas" for his birthday. I'm not typically a fan of Italian restaurants because they usually pale in comparison to the real deal, but, there's a reason this restaurant has been around for 50+ years- they do italian right! Friday, and Saturday I worked, but was able to eat a delicious meal at the bar after my shift. Sunday, my trip concluded with a fantastic meal at my brothers apartment with friends. This weekend was so nourishing and refreshing. I went shopping, was able to sleep late, and just relax. Granted, I did have homework to do, but that's expected, and I'm glad I did it at home rather than being bamboozled tonight.

Even though it was beyond amazing to be home this past weekend, it's even more amazing being back at Siena. I have plenty of work to keep me busy, and plenty of great memories from this past weekend to keep me smiling.

Until next week,

Leanne

Sick :-(

So I broke my promise again... and I'm blogging a day late. But I woke up yesterday morning feeling not so great and ended up spiking a fever of 102. So I decided to go home early for the long weekend and pretty much sleep the day away.

I so cannot afford being sick right now, especially when I was sick two weeks ago. I have so much work to do! This weekend I was planning on getting a lab write-up done for Biology of Vertebrates, writing ten pages for my thesis, and applying to grad school. I figured a long weekend was a good time to get all of my applications filled out, request my recommendations, and write personal statements. Today I'm feeling a little bit better, so I think I can try to tackle all of this stuff. I just hope this "feeling better" lasts for at least the rest of the day, and that I feel 100% by Monday. I am not a big fan of missing class because I learn best through listening and in-class activities. However, we have a new policy at Siena in lieu of the whole swine flu thing, that we are not allowed to attend class if we have a fever. It definitely wouldn't be a good idea to infect the entire school. I really don't think this is the flu though. If it was, I'm sure I would not be well enough to be typing this right now.

Anyway, I think I'm going to go start my lab write-up. Oh, by the way, I got my Immunology test back... and I kicked its butt! I was so excited. I love starting the semester off with a big fat A. I wish my own immune system would take a hint...

~Bianca