Shannon

Ready for Home!

Hello!

    I'm very happy right now...because I'm going home tomorrow!!! My anatomy lab is my only class, like always. Then I'm waiting for Becca to get done with her lab and then we're heading home. We're riding together, which is very convenient. Hopefully I'll be home around 6:00-6:30 tomorrow night.

    I had my usual classes today, which went well. I've just been in a good mood because I'm ready for a little break from classes. Unfortunately, I have a lot of studying to do over the break. I have an anatomy test next Friday and an o. chem test the following Monday, so the studying never ends... At least I can study in the comforts of my home. :) We're celebrating Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle's house in Park Rapids. So, I'll get to see them, my grandparents, cousin, and maybe more family. I'm not sure who is going to be there. We haven't spent Thanksgiving with that side of the family in a while, so it should be fun. We don't usually travel that far on holidays, so it will be a different experience. It's about a three-hour drive from our house.

    On Saturday, my om, sister, aunt, cousin, and I are going to see the musical RENT in St. Cloud. I think that should be fun. We always have fun when we're together, not matter what we do. :) I think we might do some Christmas shopping, too. My friends (high school group) and I might get together Friday/Friday night. We're either going to go shopping or have a movie night or maybe both. I haven't seen them since this summer, so that will be fun!

    Well, I better get going. I'm going to review the heart for my quiz tomorrow, read a little, maybe do some studying, and then go to bed. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and break from school!!!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

GDR Thanksgiving & Bingo

Hi everyone!

    It's Friday tomorrow! This week went really fast and I'm glad because after tomorrow, there are only two days left of classes before Thanksgiving break!!! I can't wait to go home! :)

    Yesterday was a busy day. I had all of my classes minus band. Since we had the concert on Tuesday, we had yesterday off. The sophomores had their Thanksgiving dinner last night in the GDR. My roommates and I went to it and it was very good. It's very nice of the college to put that on every year. Each class has a designated day to have a Thanksgiving dinner together. They have turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, bread, and pumpkin pie for desert. I think my roommates appreciated it even more this year because we're used to buying our food and cooking, but we had a night off from cooking by going to that.

    Speaking of buying food, we went to grocery bingo last night as well. You play bingo and get groceries if you win. It was fun even though I didn't win anything. Nikki won a bag of groceries, though, so that was cool! My friend Kyle, from cross country, won a bag as well. Their bags were filled with macaroni and cheese, ramen noodles, fruit cups, mini pringles cups, and candy bars. Neat, huh? The rest of us just didn't have lucky cards, I guess. I could have used some groceries...I'm getting low on food...haha.

    So yesterday was a fun-filled day, but today was kind of dull. I had o. chem lab, worked for three hours, and studied/tried not to fall asleep. I got really tired while reading philosophy, but I got a lot read. We're learning about the philoisophy of religion and I'm actually interested in it. I guess it's just something I'm more interested because it's more practical than studying the history of philosophy and all of the past and current philosophers' arguments.

    Amanda (a friend in my science classes) and I studied in the o. chem lab tonight. Like I said before, we're learning the parts of the heart. I thought it was going to be extremely difficult to learn everything, but I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to grasp. It only took a half an hour to quiz each other and make sure we had it down. We'll probably quiz each other one more time before Tuesday, when we have the actual quiz, and it should be fine. I feel a lot less stressed now. :)

    That's my last two days in a nutshell. Tomorrow should be a fairly easy day and that makes me happy. Have a happy Friday, everyone!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

 

I Heart Band

Hello my fellow blog readers!

    I hope you're all enjoying your week so far. We had our band concert tonight and it went well, I think! We played some challenging pieces both mechanically and musically and I think we did our best job ever, for the most part, on all of them. We played a march called "Under the Double Eagle", a modern piece called "Waves", a Scottish piece consisting of four movements called "Hebride's Suite" (named after the Hebride's Islands), a Russian piece called "Folk Dances", and ended with another march called "Footlifter". It was a nice variety. :)

    I had my physiology lab earlier today and then I worked for a few hours afterward. It was another mailing day (we've been working in the mailroom since last week) and we're continuing to stuff envelopes with the "VIP Applications" and other informational stuff. So, if you get your "VIP Application" in the mail, you can think of me. Haha! :) They're pretty nifty if you ask me because they make the application process about ten times easier.

    Other than that, my day hasn't consisted of much. I've been studying the parts of the heart in between everything else. All 60 parts! It's a very complicated organ, let me tell you that... It's very interesting, as well. We recorded our heart beats and analyzed the different waves today in physiology lab, which was neat because we could see on the recording when you hear the "lub" and the "dub" sounds. We also listened to our hearts with stethoscopes! And did you know that the "lub" and "dub" sounds that you hear when listening to a hear beat are caused by the semilunar valves closing? Now you know. :) I better get going, though, because it's getting kind of late. Have a great day!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

    

Only an Essay

Hi there!

    Who is excited for Thanksgiving break?! There are eight more days for me and I'm thrilled! I can't wait to go home, see my family, and eat delicious food. :) Those three things make me a very happy camper.

    This week is off to a good start. I hope it keeps it up and speeds along...haha. I don't have any tests or quizzes this week! We were supposed to have an o. chem quiz on Friday but it got moved to a week from today. It should be a nice relaxing week, for the most part, but I still have plenty to do. I'm working on an essay for women's lit. I have a very rough draft right now, so I'll need to do a lot more work on that. The rough draft it due Friday, so that's really the only thing I have to have done this week. I'm going to send it to the writing center after I fix it up a bit more. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but we have a terrific service here at St. Scholastica where we can send any form of writing to (essay, report, resume, cover letter, whatever else you write). It can be dropped off at their writing center or e-mailed, which is what I've done. Someone (a professor, english-major student, or some other knowledgeable writer) will get it back to you very quickly with feedback on whatever you ask them to focus on (proof-reading, grammar, thesis statements, organization, you name it). I was very impressed with the speedy response and excellent advice I was given on my last women's lit essay, which was the first time I used the writing center. So, I would recommend that everyone gives it a try because it can't hurt, right?  

    Well, that's my input for the day. Go, writing center! Have a happy Tuesday. :)

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Relaxing With the Roomies

Hello!

    This seemingly long week is finally over. It's time for the weekend. :) I don't have nearly as much homework/studying as I did last weekend, so that's nice. I have enough to do, though. It's just Nikki, Becca, and I here at the apartment this weekend. Britteny went home. We just have a week and two days left of classes before Thanksgiving break. I'm terribly excited for it!

    Tonight Nikki, Becca, and I are are relaxing while we color pictures and watch movies. Right now we're watching The Lord of the Rings. I've never seen these movies and they think I'm crazy because of it. I guess I don't feel like I've missed out on much, so far anyway...haha. We had Subway for supper. That really hit the spot. I had my usual turkey on honey oat bread with american cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and chipotle southwest sauce. Yum! Yum! I also got two chocolate chip cookies... :) While we were in line at Subway, we noticed that their roast beef was green. It was repulsive! It seriously had lime green patches on it. Good thing none of us eat roast beef...I feel bad for the people who do that ate there tonight, because they're probably going to be sick soon. 

    We're probably going to make brownies in a little while. We're going to add a bag of chocolate chips to the mix, because it makes them 10 times better! If only we had aprons... Did you know that when you wear an apron while cooking/baking, your food turns out better? It's sort of a theory of mine and my friend Charissa's. I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it's fun to think so. It's also fun to wear aprons. :) I thought you might like to hear my apron theory. I better get going now. Have a great weekend!

P.S. My trivia question is still unanswered, so I'll remind you of what it is: What are the four Benedictine values that the College of St. Scholastica community strives to live by?

Our for now...

Shannon :)

Christmas is in the Air!

Hey everybody!

    It's FRIDAY tomorrow! I'm ready for the weekend, aren't you? I'm sure most people are. :) Today was sort of a tiring day. I had my 8:00 o. chem lab this morning and then I worked for three hours afterward. It was a mailing day, so I stuffed envelopes for three hours. Let me tell you, that's a lot of stuffing... My hands felt really gross afterward from the paper. It left a chalky, alomost sticky feeling on them. We watched Mary Poppins while we stuffed. I hadn't seen that movie for a long time!

    After work, I had lunch and then took a nap. I was only going to sleep for a half hour...but that turned into an hour. Oh well, 8:00 classes will do that to you. It's kind of ridiculous that 8:00 seems so early when you're in college. Sleeping until seven was sleeping in during high school... I've been studing for o. chem all night pretty much, in between chatting with my roommates. Our wing (all of the rooms in our hallway) had an activity tonight where we painted a mural-type thing on a sheet that we're going to hang up on a wall in our lounge. The best part was that we had free Dominos pizza! Nikki and I went to the activity. Our painting is of a sunset over an ocean full of tropical things, like coral and fish. Nikki and I each contributed a fish to the painting. :)

    When I was walking to tower earlier, right when it was almost completely dark out, I was filled with a feeling of happiness. I could smell the crispness of winter in the air and I could just tell that Christmas is coming soon, and Thanksgiving for that matter. It made me happy. I love the holiday season! I'm ready for this semester to end and I can't wait to be home for almost a month. I'm so excited! And for some reason, I got overly excited when I was walking outside earlier. :)

    Well, that's that. I hope you can feel the happiness of the Christmas season approaching, because it's just one of those little things that's nice to appreciate. Waiting for Christmas is the best part, too, right? Well, have a happy Friday!

Out for now...

Shannon :) 

Tests & Quizzes

Hello!

    Wednesday is almost over and we're heading to Thursday. Now that my philosophy test and quiz and o. chem extra credit quiz are over, this week is going fast. Now I have a regular o. chem quiz left, which is on Friday. I have o. chem lab tomorrow morning and then I'm going to work in admissions for a few hours, and then I'm going to study the rest of the day.

    Today was a pretty good day. My philosophy test wasn't as hard as I had anticipated, so that was good! Now hopefully that shows when I get it back, which I think will be Friday. I'm so tired, so I don't really have much to say right now. I finished The Hunger Games last night. It was kind of stressful because you never know what to expect or what's going to happen next. Then you think something is going to happen and it doesn't...it just plays with your mind. It was good, but I wasn't satisfied with the ending. That's all I'm going to say about that. :)

    Well, I think I'll make this short and say goodbye. I'm too tired to think right now. Have a great Thursday!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Philosophy, Cadavers, & Hunger Games!

Hi everyone!

    Wasn't today a great start to the week? It was so nice and warm outside that I couldn't help but be happy because of it. :) Hopefully it was nice wherever you are, so you could enjoy it too. My classes went well today, so that added to my good day. I did well on a philosophy quiz and essay and that was enough to make my day. I need all of the points I can get in that class because we don't have very many...that scares me a little bit. Now I need to do well on the test on Wednesday!

    I studied in the cadaver lab tonight with my friend Amanda. The lab was packed tonight because, I'm guessing, a lot of people have quizzes tomorrow. I have my first muscle quiz tomorrow and I'm a little nervous. I feel like I have them all down, but I get confused easily when things are somewhat out of place (well, they're not really out of place but they're moved a little). Anyway, I just need to think/look carefully and it should be fine. It's really nice that we have the opportunity to study in the cadaver lab, because it would a lot harder to learn the muscles if we didn't have it. So, we quizzed each other on all 50 of the muscles (there a few arteries and nerves included in that number) and I feel pretty comfortable with them. I like learning the mucles a lot better than the bones. For the most part, a lot of the stuff you have to know about bones seems pointless. Because who really cares that the hole between the condyles of the superior end of the tibia is called the intercondylar eminence? Well, I don't....maybe I should, though. :) So yeah, the cadaver lab is cool and so it studying muscles! Bones are just alright. If you decide to come to St. Scholastica and you're majoring in something science-related, you'll find that out for yourself!

    I need to go study mechanisms for o. chem now and then I'll probably read for women's lit. If I have time after that, I will read some more of The Hunger Games. I don't remember if I've mentioned that I'm reading it, but anyway, it's really good! I have a hundred pages left and I'm dying to know what happens next! I would recommend it to anyone...so far anyway. It's very adventurous and unpredictable. It's written by Suzanne Collins in case you're interested. Well, have a great night!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

 

In the Courtyard...

Hey everyone!

    I hope you all had a terrific Saturday! It was such a nice day here in Duluth and I'm guessing it was nice almost everywhere in Minnesota, too. It was above 60 degrees, sunny, and not a single cloud was in sight. It actually felt like the fall that we sort of skipped over for a couple weeks. :) Hopefully it stays nice for at least a little while, otherwise winter is going to feel too long....

    My roommates, Nikki and Britteny, and I went and studied in the courtyard for a little while. We have a lovely courtyard surrounded by tower hall. It's secluded and peaceful and I've never seen anyone in there when I've been there. I don't think people know about it and if they do, I don't think they know they can go inside. What a shame, because it's a nice place to go and study...if it's nice outside!

    I've mostly been reading and studying all day. I have way too many quizzes next week and one test. Luckily I have all weekend to study. :) I've been studying the muscles of the upper half of the body and the arteries and nerves in the arm. I've also been studying mechanisms for o. chem. I still need to read for women's lit, which I think I'll do tonight. I will study for philosophy tomorrow...ugh. I should try and think positively about that class, but it's so hard to do so. I just need to remember that by studying philosophy, I'm fulfilling my needs for intellectual ideas/discussion/advancement...or whatever it claims to do. :)

    Well, no one has answered my last question that I posted. So, I must assume no one reads this blog of mine. Hopefully it will get answered soon...hint, hint. :) Have a great rest of your weekend!

Out for now...

Shannon :)

Over Halfway Done!

Hello!

    I can't believe it's already Thursday tomorrow...this week is flying by! I feel like I have so much time now that cross country is over. It was weird not rushing to practice after band today. It was almost dark when band got done, so I was glad I didn't have to go run. It's pretty cold tonight, too. According to my computer, it's 31 degrees. Brrrr!!

    I had my usual Wednesday classes today, which went well. I was pretty tired during philosophy, though, but I blame being up late registering for classes for that. I got registered for all of the classes I wanted to, so that's good! I've never had any trouble getting into the classes I need/want...just one of the many benefits of going to a small college! :) I'm taking organic chemistry 2, anatomy and physiology 2, abnormal psychology, history of the U.S., band, and o. chem and anat/phys labs. This semester is over half-done now! I'm excited for next semester because my schedule is a little more spread out, instead of having the majority of my classes MWF. I hope it's better, anyway.

    Well, I think I'm going to go study some anat/phys. We have our 3rd exam on Friday. I need to get to bed earlier tonight, too, because I have my 8:00 o. chem lab in the morning. Sometimes I wonder if it's a good idea for me to be mixing hazadorous chemicals that early in the morning...haha!

Out for now...

Shannon :)