Amanda's Blog

What a few weeks it has been!  We had spring break of course, during which time I traveled with a group of students to the Mexican-American border on the Border Awareness Experience (BAE). The goal of the trip was to learn about the issues effecting the border and then educate people here in New Jersey about what we witnessed first hand.  It was quite an experience: at times heartbreaking and tragic while also being inspirational, uplifting, and humbling.  It was somewhat of a tough transition coming back from that trip to the daily grind here at the university, but I'm happy now that I'm back.  There's so much to do! Last week we had another overnight event, and as usual my guest Alexandria was an awesome roommate for the night. I found out the results of all of my midterms as well.  As you can imagine, I was pretty nervous before I left for break, but you'll be glad to know that I'm more than passing all of my classes! :)

We also had a WILD event to network with alumni and professionals in the area in our respective career fields.  I met a lot of interesting and intelligent people at the event and it was a lot of fun to mingle with them as well as my fellow students.  Tonight we will be having a movie night and food, which is always nice in the middle of the week.  It helps to break up the constant flow of homework and spend some quality time with my dormmates.  As the semester draws nearer to an end, papers pile up and I'm willing to engage in distractions!

I'm also applying for the Resident Assistant (RA) position on campus.  You're probably familiar with RAs, but for those of you who are not, they assist the head of Residence Life with students in the dorm.  They plan programs for the residents (such as tonight's movie night) and enforce the policies and procedures of the dorms.  I have an interview tomorrow, so wish me luck!

My passport finally arrived this week, which means that I'm all set for Mexico! I have just four more days to go until I'll be on a plane to the Mexican-American border.  In the meantime, this week is midterm week, so I have so many papers to write and tests to study for! These are the times that I seriously wonder why I torture myself with school.  On Friday, I'll remember again.  I didn't do too much this week, other than homework and more homework.  That's the way the week before midterms usually is, though.  Last week was Women's Empowerment Week on campus though, and so the university had a special guest for Tuesday to talk to us about trying to live in a man's world.  You might recognize her: Debbye Turner, a former Miss America.  A few students and myself had the chance to meet with her over dinner before she formally gave her talk to the university.  She has some very insightful things to offer to us about growing up as a woman and the obstacles we face.

Tomorrow is finally the big day for Diversifest.  We're going to have international food, dance, art, and music to celebrate diversity and learn more about Fair Trade.  You might have heard me mention Fair Trade before on my blog, and hopefully, you're curious about it.  Fair Trade is an organization through Catholic Relief Services that helps global coffee and chocolate farmers recieve fair wages and working conditions.  Right now, we're really trying to educate the campus about it, and tomorrow we'll be doing it through our big fiesta! We're also dressing up, so tomorrow I'll have a chance to pull out my saree (a traditional Indian outfit) and wear it! :) Two of my friends from Massachussettes and New York are going to come down and visit me on Wednesday, so they can see what my beautiful campus looks like.  We've been hoping to visit with each other for a while.  Aren't they lucky they're friends with a tour guide who can show them around properly?  That's what I'm going to tell them anyways!

This week was made extra special because I hosted a student overnight on Wednesday!  I took her around to all my classes and clubs, etc.  Beth you're awesome! We played a rocking game of Bingo and had a raffle.  Together we went to a WILD (Women in Leadership Development) event and learned all about business etiquette.  We learned how to present ourselves in appropriate business attire and which side of the plate the fork goes on.  We also went to a Mercy presentation about why Sisters of Mercy become sisters and the Mercy Corps Volunteers.  It was pretty interesting and they served some very good pizza, courtesy of Chartwells.  On Saturday I went with Campus Ministry to visit the homeless population on Lakewood.  We delivered coats, clothes, and food that we had collected from the students and faculty and helped to distribute them.  We also had a chance to talk to a few of the people we were trying to help and learned just a little bit about what it means to be homeless.  Today we held an Open House, where prospective and accepted students can come visit the university and meet with the faculty.  Since I'm a Student Ambassador I answered student's questions and gave tours around the campus.  I got a test back, and I did well, which always makes me happy!  I still have two more tests to study for, but only two weeks left to go until Spring Break!  I've had so many papers due in the last two weeks that this break is badly needed!  I have finally firmed up my plans for the break: I'm heading to the Texas-Mexican border for the first half of break, which I already knew.  For the second half, I'm going to be visiting my friends from Bryant University.  I'll finally have a chance to relax and catch up on some sleep for the second half of the break! 

This week has been the most exciting week by far on campus because it's finally snowed!  This is the first real snow of the season.  The campus looks absolutely gorgeous when it's covered by snow, and the residents made a funny snowman in front of our main A&S building.  My class on Friday was cut short (that's two times in one week that I had a break from classes!) My friends and I immediately engaged in a snow ball fight, of course! :)  The Board of Trustees came to campus for a visit that very same day, and we put on a special mass for them. Unfortunately, our pianist couldn't make it to the mass because she was caught up in the snow.  Two of my friends and I had an interesting time singing for the trustees by ourselves, yet it went well none-the-less.  The trustees complimented us on our singing, and I think we were more worried than we should have been.  I finally made my way to Target this weekend since I have been meaning to go but can never seem to find the time to do so.  Have you noticed all the spring fashions already out?  I went there to buy a pair of rain boots because of the weather, and they were selling bathing suits! I think that's the last thing on my mind to buy at the moment.   We had a good time wandering around the store though.  The excellent thing about putting spring clothes out now is that all the winter clothes are on CLEARANCE!  This weekend, our Outdoor Adventure Club was supposed to go snow tubing, but because of all the snow on the roads, we had to delay it.  I'm looking forward to this Friday though, when we will actually go.  I have never tried it before and I'm so excited to have some more fun in the snow.  Winter is my absolute favorite season!

What a week it's been! This week, like so many others has flown by. My group going to the border over spring break had to do so much preparation in order to go.  On Tuesday we set up a Mexican Food Stand and sold Mexican and American treats to help pay for our trip, which was a total success.  I also had a chance to give a campus tour to visiting guests of the university, which is always fun! This week marked the start of GROW (Gospel Reflections Once a Week), a Lenten prayer group that reflects on the Gospel with a small group and shares their stories with each other. This week was a nice start to the group and to bond with my other campus ministry members.  Saturday the International Living Learning Communities hosted an international food night.  Myself and a few other students and faculty members prepared different foods from across the world, mostly from their own cultures; I made baklava even though I'm not Greek.  Afterwards, we gave a small presentation about our dish and then chowed down.  There was also a fabulous Russian salad, a spinach pie from Kosovo, and an African chicken curry.  I was surprised at the salad; I really hate vegetables but the salad tasted amazing! I'm also getting a new roommate this week! My last roommate moved out to live in the suites since she's a senior, and then I had to go on a search for a new roommate.  My room was starting to get a little lonely all by myself, but now I have a roommate.  I'm excited for her to move in!  On another happy note, my early morning class for Monday in CANCELLED!  I am going to get to sleep in for one day this week! I always get overly excited when a class is cancelled because it never really happens to me.  On Tuesday all of the night classes were cancelled due to the snow and ice and it was the only day of the week that I don't have a night class, which I thought was totally unfair! I did get the night off of work which made me happy. 

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