Shannon

Going Bonkers!

Hey!

    This week has been very stressful!! It's been full of tests and quizzes...and they're not done yet! My organic chemistry test is next and last. I'm so terribly nervous, though! It will feel great to be done with it on Friday. Our team leaves for St. Bonifacious Friday afternoon. We have our conference cross country meet Saturday morning at Crown College. It should be fun! My parents are coming! Then I'm going home with them for the weekend. I'm so EXCITED to go HOME! I haven't been home for about two months! I think that's definitely the longest I've ever been away. I can't wait!!!

    I have so much studying to do. There isn't enough time between now and when I take my test... I'm sorry this isn't interesting, but I don't have anything interesting to say. My brain is overwhelmed with stereochemistry and the million reaction mechanisms that I need to have mastered. I'm also very tired right now because I ran my tempo run at 8:00 this morning before my first class. So yeah, I'm a little out of it.

    I better get going, though, because my o. chem notes are staring at me. They're telling me to study them. Alright, I'm officially going nuts!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Good Night, Bad Nuggets

Hey everyone!

    It's Friday once again and it feels great! If only weekends didn't go by so fast... Like I mentioned before, my weekend is going to be spent studying, studying, and studying. It's cold and snowing right now. It isn't really staying on the ground, though. If the weather keeps this up, it will be a good weekend for studying! I'm mostly relaxing tonight, though, because it's needed in order to stay sane after a busy week. Our roommate, Britteny, went home for the weekend. Becca, Nikki, and I went to the mall this afternoon-ish (after I got done working). Becca got her cartilage of her ear pierced at Claire's in the mall. She tried convincing me and Nikki to get ours done, too, but we resisted. Nikki's afraid of needles and I just don't want my cartilage pierced. I'm very conservative in that aspect. I have my ears pierced, but getting cartilage pierced is too wild for me. Haha! :)

    We ate supper at Wendy's because those two really like it. It was the most disgusting fast food I've ever had in my life! Becca recommended the chicken nuggets and fries, so I got that. Big mistake! The chicken nuggets I have in our freezer are 100 times better than those! The fries were gross, too. I couldn't believe how terrible it was. The best thing was the Sprite I had to drink. It tasted good because I haven't had pop in a long time. So that was too bad...good thing it was cheap. That's probably why it was bad.

    I'm trying to figure out my schedule for spring semester. I know that I'm taking organic chemistry 2, anatomy and physiology 2, abnormal psychology, and band. My dilemma is finding my fourth class. The general education requirements that I have left are history, religion, and upper-division writing. I found a class that covers all of those and sounds interesting, but I'm not supposed to take my upper-division writing class until I'm a junior or senior. I'm only a sophomore... It would be really nice if I could take it somehow, but I just don't think that's going to happen. So I need to continue my search for either a history or religion class, or maybe one that covers both? That would be nice! I meet with my advisor next Thursday and hopefully he'll have some good advice.

    My last trivia question has been answered! In case you are wondering, Duluth was named after Daniel Greysolon (Sieur du Lhut). :)

***NEW QUESTION: What are the four Benedictine values that the College of St. Scholastica community strives to live by?***

Have a great weekend everyone!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Muscle Cells!!

Hello!

    I hope you're all having a great week! If you're not, be happy because it's almost Friday! This week went way too fast, like most of the others so far... This week has been pretty busy for me. Between classes, studying, and cross country practice, I have little time for anything else. My weekend is going to be dominated by studying, too. Next week consists of a women's lit. midterm, philosophy quiz, physiology quiz, and an organic chemistry test. I'm stressed thinking about it!

    Did you know that you're born with the most muscle cells that you'll ever have throughout your lifetime? Isn't that interesting!! So, when you lift weights and you think you're building muscle, you really aren't. You're just building actin and myosin fibers, which wrap around the muscle cells. We're learning about muscle cells in anatomy and I had to share that fun fact! Another thing we learned is this: when you run a lot and think you're getting stronger, you're really not because in order to get stronger you have to continue to lift heavier and heavier weights. And since you're just carrying your body around, you're not getting stronger because the weight stays the same. And if you lose weight due to the running, you're carrying around less weight and, therefore, you're really not getting stronger. Isn't that something?! That was a very brief explanation but I hope you enjoyed it. :)

    I have to finish reading "The Awakening" now for my women's lit. class. So I better get going. I've been putting off reading the last 10 or so pages because I've been studying organic chemistry all night...I have a quiz tomorrow and I'm really nervous! Wish me luck!!!

Have a happy Friday!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Baking and Possibly the "Sophomore 15"

Hey!

    Wow, it's been a while...oops! Last week was a very busy one for me and last weekend was pretty busy, too. This week will be a lot less stressful, at least I think so. :)

    I had a philosophy essay due Monday, a physiology quiz Tuesday, an o. chem quiz Thursday (I had to take it early), and an anatomy test Friday (which I also took early). I took my o. chem quiz and anatomy test early because we left at 9:00am on Friday for a cross country meet in Moorhead. The meet was at 4:30pm but we had to leave so early because it took four or so hours to get there! After the meet, we drove the four or so hours back to Duluth and arrived at CSS around 12:30am! It was a long day to say the least...

    My weekend was mostly spent studying and baking!! My roommate, Nikki, and I have a lot of fun trying out new recipes and then eating our delicious masterpieces! So, I bought a bundle of bananas about a week ago and they went from green to brown. I don't think they were ever yellow! So we made banana bread out of them so they didn't go to waste. Aren't we thrifty?! We put chocolate chips in the mix and then sprinkled brown sugar on top of the loaf. It turned out really well and was gone in less than 24 hours! Don't worry, we shared some with our neighbors across the hall and our other roommate Britteny. Haha! Then Nikki had to make peanut butter balls for a project for one of her classes...I think marketing. So we made those and they turned out delcious as well. I had never had them before, but wow, they are very rich and good! I will put the recipe below!

Peanut Butter Balls (Nikki's recipe)

2 cups peanut butter            1 pound powdered sugar

1 stick butter or margarine     2 bags chocolate chips

3 cups rice crispies cereal

Mix peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar. Stir in rice crispies. Then roll mixture into 1 tbsp sized balls. Melt chocolate chips (add 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil so it gets smooth) and then dip the peanut butter balls into it so they are covered in chocolate. Put in fridge to chill until chocolate hardens and enjoy!

When you're in college, the most enjoyable thing is food! I hope you enjoy the recipe if you decide to make them. I will add more fun recipes if we make some more good stuff! Hopefully I don't gain the "sophomore 15" this year...haha! I didn't gain the "freshman 15", but that's because I didn't bake goodies with my roommates every weekend. :)

Well, have a great night!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

 

Run, Run as Fast as You Can...

Hello!

    Are you all having a good week so far? I hope so. :) It's going too fast for me! I have so much to do and not enough time to do it all. Yikes! I'm actually going to have to make this somewhat short, because I have a lot more studying that I want and need to do tonight.

    I see no one has answered question #2 yet. Don't be afraid to give it a try. So far my trivia questions are a flop, but hopefully that will change soon. :) I thought it was a good idea at the time...

    Well, today was a really nice day! I had my physiology lab at 11. Then I worked for a little while, came back and had a grilled-cheese sandwich for lunch, researched dental schools and their requirements, and went to cross country practice. It was a perfect day for a long run! A bunch of us ran to Chester Bowl and ran the trails, which is always fun. The temperature was just perfect and it was nice and sunny, too. We ended our run by climbing up some rocks. It was more like a wall of rocks or, I guess, kind of like a rock-climbing wall. Whatever it was, it was fun to climb up! I just really enjoyed running today. I finally feel like I'm getting my energy back. :)

    I've just been trying to study tonight. I better get going so I can study some more. I'm feeling a little panicky about my upcoming quiz and test! Ahhh! It will be okay...I hope.

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Racing in Snow!

Hello everybody!

    I hope you're all having an enjoyable weekend. We had our first snowfall of the year up here Friday night/Saturday morning. I don't know exactly when it started, but there was snow covering the ground and cars when I woke up bright and early yesterday morning. We had a cross country race in the snow! Our meet was in Carleton, just 25 minutes or so south of here. I think there was more snow there, too. Out of all of the years I've been running cross country, I think that was my first race in the snow. That's crazy! I ended up running my season best time of 25:38. Our team took 3rd out of 7 teams. It was extremely cold (in the lower 30's, but fun for a change of scenery. 

    When I got back from the meet, my roommates (Becca and Nikki) were listening to Christmas music. It's way too early for that... They claim that the snow got them into the Christmas spirit. I didn't do a whole lot the rest of the day. I worked on homework and relaxed. I need to finish my philosophy paper and study for my upcoming anatomy test and o. chem quiz today. I got all of my laundry done yesterday, so it's nice to have that out of the way. I did 5 loads of laundry!! All of the washers were open, too, so I was able to get all of them done at the same time. Nice, huh? :)

    I'm pleased to announce that I have received feedback on my blog. I was "proven wrong" because I now know that I do have readers. So keep it coming!

***So, my next question for you guys is this: After whom is Duluth named?***

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

     

 

Prove Me Wrong

Hey everyone!

    This week went so fast! I think it's because it was an easy week, so it was nice and relaxing for the most part. I didn't have any tests or quizzes to study for and that was nice as well. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I have my four classes, then I need to work for two hours, then I'm going to tea (haha, that sounds funny) for the Sister Monica music scholarship recipients. After that, the cross country team is having a spaghetti feed at Grandma's restaurant in Canal Park. I'm excited for that! It should be delicious! Then I'm going to hang out with my roommates. It will be my busiest day this week, I think.

    So...no one has answered my first question yet. I'm going to assume that it was just too hard, so no one wanted to give it a try. (haha) Anyway, the answer to question #1 is: Business/Management. 31% of students here have this major. I was surprised by this because I thought most people came here for science-related majors. And since 32% of the students are health science-related majors, the two are very close!

    I think I'll have my next question tomorrow. So go ahead! Prove me wrong...because I think the only one who reads this is my mom! Don't get me wrong, though, I'm really glad she reads it! She's my #1 fan! I better get going now. I'm going to have a snack, read for fun, then go to bed. Have a happy Friday!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Does Anyone Read This?

Hello!

    I hope you're all having a great start to the week, that is, if anyone reads this blog...haha. :) My week has been okay so far. It's going to be a pretty easy week actually, because I don't have any tests and tomorrow is Community Day! I had my first anatomy quiz today, which went alright. I'm so mad at myself, though, because I forgot the name of the coronoid process!!! That name just doesn't stick in my mind, but now that I got it wrong, I don't think I'll ever forget it!

    Did you have a good weekend? I sure did. :) My Mom, Sister, and Grandma came up here and we had a girls weekend. We went shopping, out to eat at Old Chicago, stayed in a hotel in Canal Park, went in the hot tub, walked around the shops in Canal Park, walked the lakewalk, and had a jolly time. Then they took me grocery shopping on Sunday, so now I'm stocked up on food. It was a good weekend. I won't see my family until Halloween now. :(

    Well, since nobody guessed the answer to my first trivia question, I'm just going to have to wait until someone does. Don't be afraid to guess! There's no penalty...but there might be some sort of a reward!

    I have to get ready for cross country practice now. It's been raining all day and it's still raining, so it looks like it will be a wet run...

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Can You Guess...?!

Happy Friday!

    Wow, this week went fast, didn't it? I basically went into "weekend mode" immediately after I handed in my organic chemistry test...which was at about 11:30. It probably wasn't a good thing since I had two more classes afterward. It was a struggle to stay focused in anat and phys. Even though Na+/K+ (sodium/potassium) pumps are oh-so-interesting, my mind was too frazzled from thinking about all of the rules for naming compounds, chair conformers, and Neuman projections; all of which were on the o.chem test.

    So, I've decided that I'm going to try something that will hopefully spruce these blogs of mine up a little. By spruce, I mean make more interesting. :) I've sort of gotten trapped in "blab about everything that happened during my day" mode. I know I'm not the most interesting person ever, either. Haha! So I was thinking I will try and have some sort of trivia question once a week. The questions might have to do with this awesome college or something totally random. You'll just have to see. This way you will hopefully learn a little something about St. Scholastica or life at college. That means all of you out there will have to take a guess!! Yeah, that means you! Whoever you are! Otherwise this will have been a really lame idea...

Today's questions is...drum roll, please...

***With majors of the health profession being first, what is the second most popular major at St. Scholastica? Also, What percent of students here have that major. (Hint: 32% have majors of the health profession) FYI-this is for bachelor's degrees.***

You can leave a comment on my blog or e-mail me your answer. Good luck and have a wonderful weekend. Hopefully it stops raining sometime soon!!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Confetti and Funfetti Cookies!

Hi everyone!

    So, the last time I wrote, it was "only Tuesday" and now it's "already Thursday". Haha! This week went from going slow to way too fast! I have no clue where Wednesday went. It was a fun day but I didn't get nearly as much accomplished as I would have liked to. :(

    I had my 8am organic chemistry lab this morning. We did a fractional distillation lab that was a little frustrating because our source of heat was faulty. Therefore, it took forever to complete the lab. But we did, so that's good! We have our first o. chem test tomorrow and I'm extremely nervous!!! I'm devoting the rest of my day entirely to studying for it.

    I didn't get a whole lot of studying in last night because I had band and then I had to run. Then Nikki and I baked cookies for our wing (hallway) activity. The activity just involved opening your apartment door and everyone walked around to all of the apartments to meet and greet everyone. And everyone was supposed to have a snack to share. So Nikki and I made some really delicious cookies out of funfetti cake mix. Did you know you can make cookies out of that stuff? We didn't. :) Then we frosted them and put sprinkles on top. They were really cute. We even made confetti by punching holes in colored paper. Then we sprinkled the confetti all over our counter with the cookies on plates in the middle. I'll have to post a picture of how neat it looked, because my description doesn't do it justice. It was a fun activity....but I probably should have been studying.

    So, that's why today is a study day. The only other thing I have to do today is go to cross country practice at 3:50. I guess I better get studying....

Out for now....

Shannon :)