"It's October again. Leaves are coming down. One more year's come and gone" - Bethany Joy Lenz

It's the beginning of another week here and I'm very excited because October is literally around the corner! October is my other favorite month (besides April) because there are so many birthdays (including mine -- the 7th!) and I always have things to look forward to. The most important day in the month is always the 15th = my best friend's birthday. Usually I start thinking of what I'm going to get him weeks in advance, but October seriously crept up on me. I am not prepared at all and I only have two weeks left... oh boy.

October is going to start off pretty well though... because the Boston Celtics are at Salve the entire week for training camp! I love the Celtics so much and I was very happy to hear that they were going to be on campus. The best part was the fact that students would have an opportunity to attend their scrimmage at the end of the week... but of course, there's a catch. We had to submit our names into the lottery system, and 175 people would randomly be picked. I WAS ONE OF THEM! I absolutely cannot wait. It's going to make this week go by so much faster!

This previous weekend was Salve's annual Fall Festival, the time when parents & alumni come visit the campus. My family and I didn't participate in these activities (in fact I went home), but I still had a wonderful weekend anyway :)

On Friday night, RER and I were reunited with the best girls ever. I was so happy to see them, but the best moment of the night was seeing their reactions when they saw us. Most of them did not know that we were coming up to see them, so they were genuinely surprised and grateful, I think. The expressions on their faces made me feel thankful that I was able to leave a lasting impression on them, while they have made their own lasting impressions on me. Those girls are truly some of the world's best people, and I am already looking forward to the next time that I can see all of them at once.

I woke up early on Saturday morning so my family and I could drive back down to Newport. We attended an awards ceremony on campus, where I got to see everyone who was receiving a scholarship or an award. My favorite part was seeing the alumni receive their awards. So many people have graduated from Salve and went on to make a name for themselves. Their stories were so inspiring that it put me in the mood to set big goals for myself. I am not a big "long-term goal-making" person, but there's no better time to start doing that than now. After the awards ceremony, my family and I went to downtown Newport where we spent most of the day. We haven't been to Newport in three or four years so my parents really enjoyed themselves. That made me really happy. We returned to Massachusetts to go out to dinner for my brother's & dad's birthday at Bugaboo Creek (my brother's choice). Afterwards, my brother hung out with a lot of his PCC friends while I just relaxed at home.

While at home, I ended up video chatting with a few people and somewhere in the midst of the conversation, a certain someone in the background said "Tell her I love her. TELL HER I LOVE HER". That brought me back on memory lane to one of the last times that I had heard that... It's funny how the only times I get to hear that is when he's intoxicated. He also told me that he can't come down for the Celtics scrimmage with me this weekend, even though he went out the other night. I don't think I'll ever understand him during times like these, but I think it's time I stop trying to understand... for both of our sakes.

Despite all the rain on Sunday, my mom and I spent some quality time together and went shopping. I hardly bought anything for myself but I was still glad that I got to go. Then RER drove me back to school that night.

Anyway, elections for on-campus and off-campus senators are next week, and I am SO nervous. I don't think that I am going to be completely devastated if I lose, but I will certainly be disappointed. I really want to be involved and I know this is the perfect thing for me. I just hope everyone else knows that too!

:)

"So I play the numbers game to find a way to say that life has just begun" - John Mayer

So it's Week 3, Day 2... of college. I spent my first weekend at school this previous weekend, and to my surprise, it wasn't so bad. On Friday, Salve's new president was inaugurated, so there was this big ceremony for her. That night, the friends and I ventured to downtown Newport, where we had dinner and saw 'Love Happens'. On Saturday, the same friends and I took the RIPTA to Providence Place... what an adventure that was. I was able to buy a Lacoste polo for my dad's birthday on Thursday. We also met up with our JWU friend since we hadn't seen her in so long! It was so nice to see her :)

(I realized I was being Negative Nancy in the previous post. I think I really needed to spend a whole weekend here to convince myself that this isn't all so bad. The toughest thing to believe is that this isn't just for a month now. This is for the next four-five years, so the only thing I can really do is to just get used to it. It doesn't mean that I've been completely oblivious to the fact that the Stonehill application is up already... but we'll see. I just need to be more hopeful and more patient with myself!)

Speaking of weekends, I am so excited for this upcoming weekend! RER and I are coming home on Friday to see some PCC students! It certainly has been too long since we both have seen them. We have been planning this for a month now, so no wonder why Friday seems so far away! I absolutely cannot wait :) My parents and I are going to go back to Salve on Saturday morning for an awards ceremony since it's Parents' Weekend. Apparently I am going to be recognized for receiving the William Hearst scholarship... that will be cool. My mom agreed to take me shopping around Newport afterwards so naturally, I am looking forward to that and just spending quality time with my parents and brother. Afterwards, we'll probably go out to dinner for my dad's and brother's birthday and I'll get to sleep in my own bed. :)

I am running for an on-campus senator position for the student government association. I am really nervous and don't really know what to expect, but I'm sure it will be interesting. I really hope I get elected because I am looking forward to getting back on the horse and be involved again. I'm also on the fence of running women's track. I already signed my life away to the NCAA last week, but I'm having second thoughts about it... oh well. C'est la vie. Such is life. I'll take it one day at a time. It's the only thing I can do.

"All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible." - Orison Swett Marden

I think this will be the quote I live by for my time here at Salve...

"When I am alone, when I am thrown off the weight of this crazy world... that's when I miss you, you who are my home" - Alexi Murdoch

So I'm sitting in the McKillop Library right now, which is probably one of my favorite places on campus. I really think I might live here for the next eight months or so. It is so quiet and so peaceful... well, just like a library should be.

I'm in the middle of my second week as a Salve freshman and it's going alright. I'm enjoying my classes, especially my Intro to the Justice Process class. My major is Administration of Justice, so of course I would like it. I think the law enforcement and all the laws are so interesting. There's also so much to learn too, so I think it will be a good semester. I just need to stop procrastinating and get my work done... I don't really know when that will happen though...

However, quite frankly, I'm homesick as ever. It's weird, because I wasn't home all summer, and now I decide to be homesick. It makes no sense to me, but nonetheless, I'm homesick. I miss my parents and I miss my brother. Today is my brother's sixteenth birthday and it kills me that I'm not home to celebrate it... (Happy birthday, Nam-Du! I love you!)

I miss my best friend too... Before I left, he gave me a letter and told me not to read it until I was all settled in my dorm room. Well, he doesn't know this, but I broke that rule and I read it before I went to sleep that night. The front of the letter has a big, yellow smiley face on it. This is an inside joke with us that dates back to 2004. I used to leave little notes in his locker when we were in junior high, and he would make me cards to give back to me. However, he isn't the most artistic person on the planet, so he would only draw smiley faces, which lead to smiley faces drawn on Paint. Every single year, I've received a card on my birthday with the exact same smiley face on it, and of course it always brings a smile to my face. His cards are always so intricate and thoughtful. On my seventeenth birthday, he included a picture of us in our "childhood". In reality, he had taken a picture of him when he was little and a picture of me when I was little and edited both onto a picture of a playground. On last year's card, he edited a picture of Jason Mraz -- half-naked, might I add -- saying happy birthday to me, because he had gotten me Jason Mraz tickets as a present. Anyway, this letter has to be the most heartfelt letter I have ever received. To put into words how thoughtful it was is quite impossible, but it does give me the sense of hope that I needed, to believe that our friendship will endure all the changes that have already come, and those that will come in the near future.

"There are 6,470,818,671 people in the world. Some are running scared. Some are coming home. Some tell lies to make it through the day, others are just now facing the truth. Some are evil men at war with good, and some are good struggling with evil. 6 billion people in the world, 6 billion souls, and sometimes, all you need is one." - One Tree Hill

"And as we lie here and let the world fade away, the sunrise tries to end it while we try to stay" - Joshua Radin

TWO days until I leave for Salve! I'm so excited, but the nerves are definitely starting to kick in. I haven't even packed yet... that may be a problem, but oh well. I'll make it work.

Today, I'm going out for ice cream with some of my PCC loves before I leave, and I'm very excited to see them. I have been so lucky to have had the opportunity to work at PCC this summer. Project Contemporary Competitiveness is a six-week overnight advanced studies program for incoming freshmen and sophomores from southeastern Massachusetts. I attended the program as a student in the summers of 2005 and 2006. I worked as a desk proctor in 2008, and I was a proctor in 2009. For six weeks, I listened to their stories, played childhood games with them on the REC field, witnessed their talents on stage and in class, danced to "Single Ladies" with them every Thursday night, and by the end of the program, I sobbed with five hundred people. It was so difficult for me to say goodbye to those people who I got to know over the six weeks, students and co-workers alike. The students were always so enthusiastic and a lot of them didn't have a care in the world (it made me miss the times when I didn't know any better and just wanted to have fun). I looked forward to every day that I got to spend with them. My co-workers, on the other hand, are the craziest, most entertaining people I have ever met. Being one of the two youngest staff members, they definitely taught me a lot about being a leader and an authorative figure. I gained more confidence this summer, not only to discipline children, but to have fun also. I got to go on stage and teach kids how to pee ("Oh my, oh me, this is how you pee!") and I got "caked" in the face by my boss. It honestly has been the best experience I've ever had. PCC taught me so much about myself while I was there as a student and I only wanted to give back to the program that gave me so much. There is no better feeling than hearing a kid tell you that you made an impact on them and that their summer would not have been the same without you. That, I believe, is so rewarding, and I only hope that I can experience this same feeling again for many summers to come.

Speaking of goodbyes earlier, I have to say goodbye to my very best friend tomorrow night. My best friend and I share the most complicated, confusing relationship out of any two best friends, but it's also one of the best relationships I have. He and I have been friends for six years now and physically, we are complete opposites. He's tall, I'm short, He has light brown hair and blue eyes, while I have black hair and dark brown eyes. We look so funny when we're together, but I love it. Disregarding our physical features, however, we are the same person. It only takes one look to know what the other is thinking. We think the same and we feel the same. We have the same fears and dislike the same people (as bad as that is). We are connected through music, and that connection is unbreakable. It's definitely going to be difficult for me to be away from him this year, considering everything that we have been through: the passing of his father, my father's temporary lay-off, breakups, makeups, our wonderful trip to Disney World, concerts, etc. We have had so many conflicts and times of struggle between the two of us (one so difficult that it almost ended our friendship completely). But I am so grateful, still to this day, that we were able to resolve our differences over and over again to be the best friends that we are today.

I wish I could be there to see his progress in school and with the college application process. I wish I could cheer him on in his sporting events, to see him lead as president of the NHS, and to see if he will get accepted into his dream school, Boston College. I am constantly proud of him and I want to see all that he can do this year while I'm gone. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to him, because a part of me feels like our friendship is ending... but I know we'll make it through this year. We have to.

But anyway, here are some pictures.

My favorite student & me at semi

My two girls and me on the last day

My co-workers on 5Shea

RER & I at the School Spirit dance
(my Salve Regina best friend!)