On the Road Again

Hello everyone! Sorry it’s been a while since I updated you on my summer. What can I say…I’ve been busy!

I realized I left y'all hanging out in music city and never finished up the rest of Tyler and mine’s road trip. Well you know that we made it back safe and sound but we saw a lot before we got back to MA.

After we left Nashville we headed north towards Louisville, but made a pit stop at Churchill Downs. We had tried to make it to the Jim Beam Distillery but were too late so we decide that it would be neat to see something else. Lucky for us there were no races that day so the whole place was pretty much open. After walking around outside for a while, someone told us we could go inside and check out where they do simulcasting of other races across the country. I thought that’s all we would get to see, but next thing I know we are headed outside towards the track. We got to walk right up to it; I don’t know if we were actually supposed to be down there but no one stopped us or told us otherwise. It was really neat to get to see the famous racetrack up close. Once we left we drove to our hotel which was actually across the river in Indiana, so we can say we made it though another state. The next morning we crossed the river again and went to the Louisville Slugger Museum. I had been a few years before, but this was Tyler’s first visit. It was as cool as I remembered. We spent some time in the museum before taking the tour of the factory. While in the museum Tyler got to hold a game used bat of David Ortiz and while we were taking the tour itself got to hold a bat they had just finished making for Dustin Pedroia!

We got back on the road to make it to Wild Turkey Distillery. Since we hadn’t made it to Jim Beam we really wanted to visit at least one distillery on the Bourbon Trail. The tour at Wild Turkey was really cool. We got to see everything from where they ferment the grain in huge vats to the rick houses they age the bourbon in. Unfortunately, since we stopped there we landed up driving really late into the night in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania where we stayed the night. The late night drive was all worth it when we pulled into Chocolate World in HERSHEY Pennsylvania. We learned all about how Hershey makes there chocolate and tried plenty of it ourselves! After a few hours at Hershey we got on the road and headed home. By night fall we were on the Mass Pike and home safe and sound.

All in all it was a great trip, my little '99 Honda made it with no problems, we got to see beautiful parts of the country, and we have hundreds of pictures to remember it by. I don't know if I'll be making that drive again anytime soon, but this time around, it was definitely worth it.

The New Science Center

For those of you who are incoming science students or any one thinking of studying science here at Stonehill I have great news for you....the new science center is absolutely AMAZING! I myself try to stay as far away from science classes as humanly possible, but the new science center is making me reconsider my usual inclinations. I had the opportunity to go and check it out for the first time the other day. In the last few weeks the students participating in the SURE program, a summer undergraduate research experience, have had a chance to begin using the building. Taking a walk around the building you can tell there are still some little things to be finished, not all the classrooms are set up completely, and there is still some equipment to be unpacked, but you can tell the students LOVE being in the new space.



Like I mentioned before the building is just as beautiful as it promised to be. Construction just started on the new south quad and seems to be moving at a surprisingly rapid pace. In August when all the constructions is finished everyone who returns to campus in August will have a great new space on campus to enjoy.



If you haven't seen pictures or plans of the new science center you can check out the original renderings of the building by clicking here.


I hope you're all enjoying the summer....I promise to finish out my cross country adventure with another blog post soon!

Mile Marker One and Music City

I had a great time at home with my family. I never get to spend as much time at home as I would like, but that makes my visits all the more special. After a few days it was time to hit the road. Part of the reason Tyler came to visit was not only so he could finally meet my family, but also to help my drive my car back up to Mass. We visited AAA got lots of maps and books and had planned our route so early-ish Wednesday morning we hit the road. The first days was the longest. We drove all the way from my house in DFW to Nashville. We made little stops along the way but 12 hours later, by the time we arrived we were tired!

Just one of the many scenery picts we took!

We made it!!

Since had limited time and wanted to make the best of it. So we freshened up and headed out to see and hear what we could. We stayed on Music Row which is a street full of funky little bars and shops. The next day we headed to the Country Music Hall of Fame! If you haven't guessed, I'm a pretty big country music fan, so this was a small dream come true. The Country Music Hall of Fame also has a pretty cool museum in it. After spending the morning poking around the museum we headed back out to Music Row for some lunch before hitting the road again!

Music Row
The band playing at the bar--They were really good!Not a bad view of the city out of hotel window

Country Music Hall of Fame

The actual Hall of Fame

Clearly we were having plenty of fun and this was only our fist stop of many! I'll be back working in the admissions office next week but ill be sure to post more of our cross country road trip soon!

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Hello hello! I am glad to report that my '99 Honda Civic with almost 160,000 miles has made it safely from Texas to Massachusetts.

After Tyler arrived in Texas my time at home quickly began to wind down. As a newcomer to Texas, Tyler still had a lot he wanted to see and do before we hit the road. He was at my house for about 5 days. We went to Fort Worth, Dallas, the Ballpark and my little brothers graduation. I could tell you about every bit of his visit but since a picture is worth a thousand words i'll leave you with a few.

Texas owns a heard of Longhorns, part of which live at the Fort Worth Stockyards...this is just their daily stroll down Main Street.

At the Rodeo! Go Rangers!

I'll post again soon to share some road trip stories and pictures!

And the Homestretch

When I first started writing this blog we had just entered the homestretch at Stonehill. I still had papers and finals to finish up and turn in before I could head home. At this point I am really headed towards home. I spent a week in Lexington with my boyfriend and his family after taking my last final and packing up my room last Friday. Today I am headed home to see my brother graduate from Texas A&M Corpus Christi. His graduation on Saturday really got me thinking about how fast the past three years have flown by and how fast my senior year is likely to be. I’m not quite ready to be a senior; I was just getting good at being a junior.

This will be me next year!

Because I live so far away I don’t go home that often. I was home last, over Christmas break but after my visit home these next few weeks I wont be home again till Christmas. This trip home is extra special not only because my brother is graduating college, but so is my younger brother from 8th grade. To top it all off my boyfriend is coming down to meet the family! The two of us are then gonna road trip it back in my 1999 Honda Civic…don’t worry it’s gonna make it!

Until then I hope everyone is enjoying the first few days of summer or the last few of school whichever it be for you!

Tyler and I depart for our road trip on the 27th so ill be sure to post updates as we travel across the eastern US, we will be stopping in Country Music City, Nashville, Louisville, Lexington, KY and HERSHEY PA! This should be fun!

Spring Weekend!

Now that it is Monday afternoon, and we have all gone back to being regular college kids with classes and meetings, it is safe to say we have all survived Spring Weekend. This also means I have a ton of work I should be doing as classes are coming to and end in just two short weeks. But since I promised new posts I have the perfect excuse to avoid them just a bit longer.

For those of you who don’t know or have not heard of Spring Weekend, it is by far the largest and most fun theme weekend here. Originally it was just a weekend, but this year the festivities kicked of a bit earlier with a comedians, duck hunt, and a diversity program to celebrate Asian Heritage month all before the weekend ever got here. Even still Spring Weekend is really all about the weekend and so Friday night kicked off with a concert featuring Raining Jane, Sarah Bareilles and Three 6 Mafia. Every year the student body gets to vote on what type of music we want for Spring Weekend. Then the concert coffee house committee makes a list of people they want to try to get. It is always a big secret of who is actually performing at Spring Weekend until the big revel at a coffeehouse night.
Saturday is my favorite day of Spring Weekend because not only is there a mixer Saturday night (we call dances mixers in college cause it sounds much cooler ;-) but there is a carnival Saturday afternoon. It is basically the equivelant of a big kid recess. There are rides like spinning tea cups and swings but this year we added a mechanical bull. There are also carnival games and food. The Caf is closed because everyone gets to eat at the cookout put on by our cafeteria catering service. If that doesn’t sound like enough fun you can also get airbrush tattoos, decorated frisbees, keychain pictures and even better its all FREE! Since the Carnival ends at three you have time to take a break and come out of your sugar coma induced by ice cream and fried dough. This year I spent the afternoon at the Stonehill softball fields. My roommate freshman Kristen, year plays outfield for the team and since I had not gotten to a game yet this season I headed out. Unfortunately they lost both games of the double header against Southern Connecticut State University, but they still played two really great games. Here are a few picts of Kristen in action. To cap the day off, we ordered some food, and hug out with friends until the Spring Fling mixer. It is always fun to dress up and act like you are at one of those good ol Jr. High dances. Even better was this year's raffle of a brand new Macbook Pro to anyone in the doors by 10:30. Unfortunately that means I didn’t win it, but I’m sure whoever did is pretty stoked! My friends and I danced the night away until they brought out pizza for us all to snack on. By the time my belly was full of pizza I decided it was time to call it a night and head for my bed.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!!

Where did the time go??? I really don’t know. As I sit down to write this I can’t believe we are already in the home stretch of the semester. Pretty soon May 8th will be here before we know it and I will be enjoying my last summer of college. I can’t even remember everything that has been going on over the past few weeks; they have all rushed by like a crazy whirlwind. But here are some of the more important things.

First off, Spring Break!! It is hard to believe that break was weeks ago by now. Since I spent first semester in Italy I am still broke as a joke, and so I did not make any extravagant travel plans. I spent the week sleeping, eating, and catching up on the work that had managed to pile up. I spent part of the week in Lexington with my boyfriend and his family and the rest of the week I spent in Rhode Island with my adoptive family. I am really not adopted, but my best friend moved to Rhode Island after fourth grade. Now that I live in New England most of the time they have become a second family to me. I even have my own room in their house! I love them so it’s a pretty sweet gig I got. In Rhode Island I caught up on some of my favorite Rhode Island past times like shopping, scrapbooking and the most famous and delicious South County Brickly’s homemade ice cream.

Secondly, I GOT A JOB! Finding a job every summer is something I just dread doing. I had so much fun working for the admissions office last year that I really wanted to do it again. Not only do I really enjoy the job it allows me to stay on campus for the summer, which is a pretty great perk! So when application time came around I reapplied and crossed my fingers. There was a lot more people who applied this year so I was a little nervous about getting rehired. But a week or so after Spring Break I got the word that I will be living on working on campus this summer…I could not be happier!

Next on the list is I am getting my CAR! Now this may not seem like a big deal to most of you but to me it is. I have never really needed my car on campus and getting it from Texas up to school seemed to be a ridiculous idea. It does not pack neatly into a suitcase like most things. In all honesty until now I have been quite content borrowing friends’ cars and stealing their gas anytime I need. But with senior year approaching I realized that I will be going on interviews and eventually looking at places to live. So it only seemed practical that I have my own car. Right now my mom drives it around so it does not just sit in the driveway, but when I go home for by brother’s graduation in May I will be making the cross country road trip back up to school! Hopefully my ’99 Honda Civic, comically named the Green Machine will make it back!


Last but not least is Easter Break! At Stonehill we are very spoiled with a second shorter break spring semester. We always have Holy Thursday through Easter Monday off. It is just one of the many perks of going to a Catholic school. So while all my friends were in classes Thursday and Friday, I slept in, relaxed and put off doing homework just a little bit longer. Friday my boyfriend Tyler and I headed to Rhode Island to spend Easter weekend with them. We had plans to go fishing Saturday but the weather man had other plans. The weather was rather gross so we stayed in side and watched movie and caught up with one another. We did manage to find a break in the rain to enjoy the hot tub for a while…it’s my favorite! Sunday we all went to church and had an amazing brunch after. Because not everyone was as lucky as I was to have Monday off we all headed in separate directions Sunday afternoon. Tyler and I to his house to have Easter diner with his parents, and my friend Kacie back up to school at UNH.

Even though the end of the semester is mere weeks away we still are all still looking forward to Spring Weekend before we have to hit the books for final exams! I promise an update before then!