Shannon

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Hey!

    Wow, it's been nothing but busy ever since I got home. Laura and I made it back here to Zimmerman safely last Thursday (the 18th) and it sounds like we just missed the snow. Good thing! It sure is nice to be home and not have to worry about homework.

    We did some last-minute Christmas shopping last Saturday, wrapped presents, we've made Christmas cookies and other goodies, and today we cleaned the house. I like keeping busy, though, because I get bored when there's nothing to do. I think I need to learn to relax... It's been really fun just getting ready for Christmas. I think that's the best part because once it's actually Christmas, it goes way too fast and then it's over for another year. I'm still really excited and can't wait for it to come, though! :)

    Tomorrow is going to be another day spent getting ready. Now that the cleaning is done, we get to start cooking. I can't wait to eat all of the good food! Our family is coming over to our house tomorrow night. We're all going to church together at 4:00pm and then we're coming back here to celebrate. :) I better get to bed so I'm rested for the most wonderful day of the year.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Finals are Finally Over!

Hey guys!

    I'm so glad to be done with finals! It's been a very long week of studying...and it's finally over. :) I'm just so excited to go home for Christmas break!!! I can't wait to be home with my family.

    I had my last two finals today. Biology was first at 10:00am. I think it went alright. It's so hard to tell, though. Like I mentioned in my previous blog; I usually end up doing better when I don't think I did so well. So that's how I feel about it. :) My medical terminology final was right after that at noon. I wasn't nearly as nervous about that one and it went very well. I calculated that the lowest I could get in order to keep my A was 90% and I ended up getting 94%...so that was a relief! I just hope my other two finals went as well.

    Laura, Becca, and I grabbed lunch at Storm's after I got done with my med. terms final. Since it's Wednesday, they had our favorite wraps! Yum! Then I went over to Laura's apartment. She made me help her dig her car out of the snow. It was parked on the road and she wanted to move it into her lot, but it was stuck because of all of the snow we got. That was  chore. We absolutely couldn't get it out, because her wheels just kept spinning. So then a kindred spirit came along (the mailman) and helped us. And everything was good again. :) We hung out at her place for a couple hours and then she drove me back here. Becca and I went down and ate supper in the Greenview. The choices weren't too appetizing. The only thing that looked good was the popcorn chicken. So I made a caesar salad and added the chicken to it. It was good.

    After that, I cleaned the suite up a bit. I didn't want to leave it nasty and have to come back to a mess. We have a cleaning schedule that was recently put into action, but for some reason some of my roommates didn't think it was necessary to clean because it's a short week. So they went home without completing their task for the week. Our roommate, Kim, moved out today. She was really unhappy here and wanted to move back home and go to SCSU, so she did. She didn't do her cleaning for the week... Sometimes I think Becca and I are the only ones who like to keep the suite clean. It's a little annoying. But that's enough about that. I'm going home tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

    

1 Down, 2 to Go

Hi everyone!

    Well, the blizzard is all over now. 8:00am finals were postponed yesterday and rescheduled for tomorrow at noon. Everything went back to normal at 10:00am, though. So, I didn't have my medical terminology final because it was supposed to be at 8:00am. That was kind of disappointing because I would have liked to just get it out of the way. It was nice to go back to bed, though. :) I had my chemistry final this morning at 8:00am and I think it went pretty well. It's hard to say and I think I usually end up doing better when I think I did bad...so let's just say I don't think I did so well. Haha!

    I have my biology final tomorrow at 10:00am, so I get to sleep in later. That will be nice. Then I have my medical terminology final right after that. I'm not too thrilled that I will be taking tests for about three hours straight. At least I'll be done for the semester afterward!

    Laura and I met up after my chemistry final and we went and sold our books. I think she sold three books and got like $22.oo back. I sold my communications book and medical terminology book and I got $74.00 back! It was exciting because I didn't think I would get that much back! We had coupons for an extra $5.00 back, so that's included in there.

    I spent a lot of last Sunday studying medical terminology, all of yesterday studying chemistry, and now all of today will be spent studying biology. That's not including all of last weekend (besides Sunday) studying all of three of them. I just can't wait to be done! It's going to be so nice to have three weeks free of studying and homework. :)

Out for now...

Shannon :)

A Blizzard is Coming...

Hey all!

    Well, the snow has started. There's supposedly a blizzard coming and we're expected to get a lot of snow. I've heard between 7 inches to a foot. I just looked at the weather online and it looks like most of it is going to come tomorrow. I guess it should be fun to get a lot of snow, because I don't have to drive anywhere. I'm sorry for all of you who have to. Be safe. It was misting snow-like stuff earlier today, but it wasn't anything bad. The real snow is starting now. My roommates and I are still planning on making a snowman tomorrow, so I hope it's sticky! It probably is right now since it was misting earlier.

    I heard that if the snow is bad on Monday, finals might get postponed. That would be HORRIBLE! I've heard that they would either all get moved back a day or Mondays finals would be moved to Friday. I wouldn't mind the first option, but I do NOT want to stay here until Friday to take my medical terminology final (that is supposed to be on Monday). So let's hope the snow stops before Monday.

    Today has been very lazy and boring. I slept pretty late because I was really exhausted. Then I did laundry and studied biology for a couple hours. That's basically all I've done today and all I will do the rest of the night...study. It's good, though, and I'mglad I have so much time to do so. :) Annie, Kim, Becca, and I went down and ate at the Greenview tonight. It was pretty good because they had pasta. I had a delicious rice crispy bar with Christmas sprinkles, too. Yum!

    I'm going to spend all day tomorrow studying, too. It should be a blast. I'm looking forward to our snowman-making study break, though! :) Have a great rest of the weekend!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

A Weekend of Studying is Underway

Hello!

    All of my classes for this semester are done! I had my last two classes, biology and chemistry, today. We reviewed for the final in biology, which was extremely helpful. In chemistry, we learned how to name two more functional groups (amines and amides). It was pretty simple, but just a little unfortunate because I had enough to study in that class the way it was. Oh well. What do you do?

    I was terribly excited to find out that I got an A on my persuasive speech and an A- on my chemistry test. Let's just say I did a lot of guessing on my chemistry test...it was hard. So that made my day. :)

    Laura and I had lunch in Storm's today, which was delicious as usual. We just love their subs! They're healthy, too. I'm over at her apartment right now. We just got done watching some Gilmore Girls and now we're going to study. That's what I'm going to be doing ALL weekend. I can't wait for finals to be done! Then I get to go home! It will be so nice to be home for longer than 5 days! Yay Christmas! :) I better get going now. Have a great weekend!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Finals Week Is Just Around The Corner

Hi everyone!

    Wow, this week sure flew by! I have one more day of classes left of my first semester here at St. Scholastica. It went so fast... After this, I only have seven semesters left here. That's a crazy thought! I'm not exactly looking forward to taking my three finals next week. But thank goodness Idon't have five or six like some people. I have my medical terminology final Monday at 8am, my chemistry final at 8am on Tuesday, and my biology final at 10am on Wednesday. What's with the 8am finals?

    As of today, I'm officially done with my communications class. I really enjoyed it, but I'm ready for it to be done. I feel like I learned quite a bit about giving speeches and human communication in general. So that's good. :) I gave my last speech today, the persuasive, and I think it went very well! I really think I've improved a lot and that's a good feeling. As I mentioned in previous blogs, my speech was on text messaging. My purpose was to persuade my audience that they shouldn't be text-messaging addicts by presenting them with the downfalls of doing so. It was kind of funny.

    I'm not looking forward to this weekend, because all I'm going to be doing is studying. :( I feel like I have way too much to do! Ahhhh! Hopefully I don't go mad...haha. I'll make sure to take study breaks to prevent that from happening. My roommates and I have decided that we are going to take a study break sometime this weekend and go make a snowman! I'm excited! 

    Becca and I went to a study session for biology tonight. It was really helpful, because we have a better idea about what to study for the cumulative part of the final. That was one of my main worries about the final for that class. There's another study session on Monday, which should also be beneficial. Last night we went to a presentation on Stem Cells. The speaker was the husband of one of our biology professors. Since we just finished up the section on stem cells in biology class and there are going to be questions about them on our final, it was helpful because it was almost like studying for it. It was really interesting, too, because he's a lawyer and a scientist so we heard about them from both of those perspectives. I had no idea how all of that worked. After the study session tonight, Becca and I went for a run in the Wellness Center. It felt great to go for a run, because it's a terrific stress reliever. We're going to make sure we keep running throughout finals week for that purpose. :)

    I better get going now, because I've found that there isn't a minute to waste during finals week. Have a great Friday. I'll keep you updated on the craziness of finals week! 

Out for now...

Shannon :) 

It's For Sure!

Hello!

    I hope your week has gotten off to a great start. Mine has been very productive so far, so I'm happy about that.

    I don't think I mentioned this before, but about a month ago I read in our daily student announcements (they are sent out by e-mail) that they were planning a trip to Italy in 2010. It's in January of 2010 and it's a class, so you get four credits for Fall Semester. Becca and I read about it and were immediately interested. The selling point for us was that it's a religion/theology class so it takes care of those gen. ed. credits and it  also counts as a cultural diversity gen. ed. requirement. So Becca and I went to the meeting about a month ago. Since so many people were interested, our spot in the class wasn't guaranteed. We were a little worried about that. We e-mailed the professor in charge of it to see if we could guarantee a spot....but he never e-mailed us back. Until today! So it looks like we're going! I'm so excited! We're going to Rome, Florence, and Assisi.

    Moving on...I  just got done with my classes for today. I had my biology lab final this morning. We finished up our CSI lab, which was pretty neat and then took the final. I think I knew everything except the last question. So hopefully I did well. Then I went to communications. People gave their persuasive speeches, which can get a little boring... My professor asked for three volunteers to do peer grades, so I volunteered. I figured it would make listening to speeches more interesting because I would have something to do, and it did. :) I give my speech on Thursday. It's on why people shouldn't be text-messaging addicts. I think I have some good points. I had my last medical terminology class today. Now all that's left is the final for it.

    Tonight is the all-school Christmas party. I think Laura and I will probably go to that. My roommates might go, too. After that I have a band concert. It's our Christmas concert and I think it will be fun. We're playing "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and "Celtic Carol". I really like both of them! The orchestra and choirs are performing as well. Each group will play/sing a couple of songs individually and then we're all going to play a few songs together at the end. Apparently the audience is encouraged to sing-along with us when we're all playing together. It should be interesting.

    I have a chemistry test tomorrow, so I better get back to studying since I have a busy night ahead of me. Have a great day!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

It's Getting Colder

Hey!

    It's freezing here! My mom, dad, Laura, and I just got back a little while ago from the movies. We saw "Four Christmases". I felt like I was getting frost bite just the short amount of time we were outside. It's been extremely cold all day. I think it was actually worse earlier today because it was windy. It's not as windy now, but it's still terribly cold. It's only one degree right now. I better get used to it, because it's only going to get worse...

    We had our cross country banquet tonight. That's why my mom and dad came up here. I'm really glad they did. :) The banquet was nice and the food was delicious. It was fun to see my cross country friends again, too. I can't wait for cross country next year. I love it!

    I got a lot of work done on my persuasive speech earlier today. I'm going to finish it tomorrow and then probably do more studying for finals. There's still a lot of work to do. I'm really tired. I think I'll get ready for bed. Have a great rest of your weekend!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Here Comes the Snow

Hello!

    Well, I have officially experienced my first bad snow here in Duluth. Laura and I went to the mall around three today after our last classes. Everything was going great. When we were checking out at a store, we were a little confused when the cashier said she wanted to make a snowman, because there wasn't any snow on the ground. We didn't think anything of it, though. Then, right as we were leaving the mall around five, we walked into a snow-covered parking lot. It was snowing pretty hard, too. The roads were really slippery and we slid a little. We luckily made it back safely. :)

    Today went by really fast and I didn't get as much done as I was hoping to. Tomorrow morning and afternoon are going to be dedicated to serious studying time. My two classes were really interesting today (biology and chemistry). In biology, we learned more about stem cells and how they get expressed, which I think is fascinating. Then we learned a little about how cloning occurs. That was interesting, but it's a little sickening when it comes to cloning animals. That's just my opinion. In chemistry we learned about oxidation and reduction reactions. It was cool! I just really like knowing exactly how reactions happen, because it helps me understand other stuff better. For example, the reactions we learned about today fall into the category of organic chemistry and knowing more about them make sense to me because we learned about them in biology. I didn't understand how they happened, I just knew they did. So it's exciting to me when my classes overlap and make sense of things. :)

    Other than that my day was pretty uneventful. Have a great weekend!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

So much to do, so little time!

Hi there!

    This week has gone by so fast! I can't believe it's Friday tomorrow. I'm excited it's going to be the weekend, however, that only means that the amount of time I have for studying is getting shorter and shorter. I just feel like there is so much I have to do! On top of everything I already have to do, I was assigned another time-consuming project that has to be done by the end of the semester. It's an assignment for Dignitas that involves interviewing someone who has a job that interests us and that we would like to learn more about. It's not a bad assignment and I would usually be really excited about something like this, but it came at a bad time. I have three finals to study for, a speech to write and practice, and now that. I have a lot of time, though, if I spend it wisely. :)

    My mom and dad are coming up here on Saturday and I'm really excited! They're coming up because we have our cross country banquet Saturday night. It should be fun. :) Hopefully I can get a lot of homework and studying done tomorrow so that Saturday can be a fun day and then Sunday can be another homework day. It should be a productive weekend. I can't wait! It always feels really good to get a lot done and accomplish something. :)

    Next week is going to be very busy. We have our Christmas band concert Tuesday night. It's going to be a major study week, too, since it's the week before finals week.

    Becca and I had a little roomie night. We didn't get much homework done, but we had a lot of fun chatting and getting to know each other even better. We're already great friends and it's a lot of fun because we have so much in common. We both needed a little break from a long week of studying. I better get to bed now, I'm really tired! Have a great Friday!

Out for now...

Shannon :)