Smile

47

That is the number of days until the class of 2013 will have its graduation ceremony.  I am part of this year’s graduating class, and I can tell you that most of us can’t believe that college is over.  Everything that has happened in the last four years seems like it happened yesterday:

-          -  Applying to IC during my senior year of high school

-         -   Not knowing where to go on my first day of classes here at IC

-         -   My first rugby match

-         -   Beginning ballroom dance

-         -   National rugby Final 4 in Virginia Beach

-          -  Moving into off campus housing

-          -  Taking on the job of being treasurer of 4 different organizations

There are many more events that have happened over the past four years, but it is not really the events that matter to me the most. It is really who I have experienced those events with. When I first came to IC I was really hoping that I just had decent room mates that wouldn't cause problems.  Fortunately the three of us and most of the people we hung out with all of freshman year have all become great friends.  Whether it was going out on the weekends with friends or just barbecuing in our side yard on a nice spring day; we were always having a great time.

I have made a lot of friends over the last four years, whether it was through rugby, hockey, ballroom, class, or the Catholic Community here at IC.  Being involved in so many things here on campus has allowed me to have a great appreciation for the friends that I have made here. I know that the people I have met at IC have changed me for good. I hope that I stay as good of friends with many of them as I am with them now.  I believe that making personal connections with people is what makes us human.  If we didn't make the connections with other humans then we would essentially be robots.  But, God has given us the ability to interact with others beyond just acquiring the things we need in the world.  He has given us the people in our lives that make us laugh, cry, and sometimes cry from laughing.

It doesn't matter if you have all the money in the world, because life is not about how much stuff you have. It is about the way you share yourself with others.  People often get caught up in making it to the top of the social ladder, but that is not what it’s all about.  Appreciate every moment you have with the ones you love and smile every second you can. Then you will know what it feels like to be on top of the world.

Ballroom

       Over this past weekend the IC Ballroom team competed in Binghamton's annual ballroom competition. Ballroom competitions always seem to bring out the best in school spirit whether it is the Penn State team doing their "we are..." chant to our small Ithaca team screaming and cheering for one another throughout the competition.  Every competition you get to meet new people and you usually learn something new about the people on your own team since you are spending every second of an entire day, sometimes 2 days with them. Everyone on our team seemed to have a great time from what I saw.

       Our team did well enough to place (get a ribbon) in a few dances, I got a 4th place one in Standard Foxtrot. Winning at the competitions is always a plus, but I think that the actual act of just participating in a ballroom competition is more important than even winning a ribbon.  At the competitions you get the chance to meet others and while you are doing it you are dancing! Who doesn't like to dance? Seriously even the most macho men in the world like to dance even if they don't admit it.  Dancing is not only a great exercise, but it is also very fun.  You don't have to be a good dancer to enjoy the act of dancing. It is one of those activities that you can really just "lose" yourself in.  Sometimes you can dance for 20 minute periods at a time and not even realize it.  The fact that ballroom is a fun activity often makes it a great outlet from the rest of people's busy schedules.

Weddings and Touchdowns:

What do they both have in common? After both events you usually dance. Why? Because it is a way of celebrating something that has just happened. People like to dance and it can often bring out a side of someone that you never saw before. Celebrating the happenings of life is something we all should do. We need to be able to celebrate the things that happen in our lives, because then what is the point of accomplishing anything if we cannot feel happy or rewarded at the end?  Take time to celebrate things in life because that is what makes life enjoyable.

"Love truly and laugh uncontrollably. Never regret anything that makes you smile. The clouds are lined with silver and the glass is half full (though the answers won't be found at the bottom). Don't sweat the small stuff, you are who you are meant to be. Dance as if no one is watching, love as if it is all you know. Dream as if you'll live forever, and Live as if you'll die today."    - James Dean

Celebrate each moment of life,
M.E.

Your Mountain

For anyone who likes to ski, I have one suggestion for you:

Go to the Rockies

Myself and two of my friends went on a week long trip to Denver over this past winter break. We started by taking a flight from Newark to Dallas/Fort Worth and from there we took a flight to Denver. Over the course of the week we looked around the city of Denver for possible apartments and tried to get an idea of the kind of jobs that were out there.  For one thing, the city itself is very clean, and it is very accessible from most any of the surrounding areas by bus or by their rail system. Walking around the city and meeting new people was a lot of fun, but the best part of the trip was the day before we left.

Since none of us wanted to pay extra to check our bags on the flight out to Denver we all made sure that we only packed things that would fit as a carry on. So when it comes to ski equipment you can guess that we didn't bring any, but we found a solution. We found out that one of the local ski mountain's called Loveland had a deal which was $99 which included a day's lift ticket, ski/boot rentals, ski pants/jacket, gloves, hats, and goggles.  I don't know about you, but I think that is an awesome deal considering that there are some mountains whose lift tickets cost more than that.  So we decided that we would go to Loveland, but we hit another problem.  The mountain was an hour away and we had no ride.  We contacted 8 car rental places with no luck at all.  I decided to call a 9th car rental place figuring we wouldn't be able to get a car just as the previous 8 had said. But, not only did they have cars that we could get that day, they had cars that we could get within the hour. So, we immediately reserved a car, and took the bus over to the rental place and left for the mountain.

We couldn't have asked for a better day to go skiing.  It was about 40 degrees, sunny, and there was no wind. We had a great time skiing, but that is not the reason I brought up skiing.  Not only did I love the skiing for the sport, but when you are near the top of a mountain in the Rockies you realize how beautiful nature is. I didn't have a camera to take pictures with, but I can tell you that the sight of being at the near top of a mountain in the Rockies will never leave my mind. The mountains were perfectly covered in snow. At one point later in the day the mountain had a beautiful orange hue to it since the sun was setting in the distance. The beauty of the earth around us is something we often don't take notice of. But, when you stand on a mountain like I did you will realize how beautiful the world around us is.

So my suggestion to you is to not necessarily go to the Rockies just because of this post.  My message to you is to find your own "mountain" in nature. Find a place in nature were you can go and really appreciate the world around us. Not the world that we have built for ourselves, but the world that God created for us. Take time off from your busy life, and go appreciate the natural beauty of the world. And even though groups are fun for outdoor trips, I encourage you to go in a group of no more than 3 people. This way you will have more of a personal experience with nature. We work so hard in our daily lives. We try so hard to please family, friends, bosses, and other people throughout our lives that we forget about ourselves.

With that:  Go take time for yourself once in a while and find Your Mountain.

Crunch Time on South Hill

  I am sure you are all aware of finals coming up in the next few weeks. What does the end of the semester mean for me? Well let me give you a list of what I have due from now until the end of the semester:

• 1 presentation
• 3 tests
• 3 (two - 5 page minimums and one - 8 page)
• 3 other assignments 
• Last but not least, a 20+ page senior thesis

Am I worried? To be honest I am not really that worried. Although I believe it will be difficult at times, with long days and late nights of work; I believe that I have prepared myself to get through this time of finals and get the grades I need to get. I think that you should feel the same way. Most of you have probably done your work well throughout this semester, and have gotten good grades. If you think that you have done well and learned a lot then all you need to do during these last few weeks of the semester is apply what you have learned. Is it that simple? I think yes. Is it easy? Not always. 

Sometimes we realize how much stuff we have to do in a certain time period and we panic. When we panic with school work we often don't even know where to start. My advice to you from here until the end of the semester is to work on one or two things each day/night so that you are not leaving everything until the very end. The more you get done now the less you have to do next week and the week of finals. That means that when the time comes to finish up those papers and take those tests that you will be better prepared for those tests. Not only will you be better prepared during finals but you will most likely be calmer and be able to think more clearly while taking those tests and finishing up those papers. 

Use what you have learned this semester and apply it to what you have coming up. Most people say use your time wisely, but I like to say use your time efficiently (shows the Economist in me). Get some things done now so that you don't panic later. Do some of your paper now so that you can revise it later, and make it better. Most professors aren't out to make you fail their classes. They have taught you the things you need to know in order to get those good final grades we all strive for. 

- M.E.

On the Way

I had the opportunity to go on a retreat with 14 other Ithaca College Catholic Community members to Camp Casowasco in Moravia, NY during a weekend in October.  The retreat center is a beautiful property located right on Lake Owasco.  We discussed topics such as how to better follow Jesus’ standard to how we can use it to make effective decisions. We were given many opportunities to spend time reflecting on Bible passages. The first activity we were asked to do was to write a short personal bio/timeline about ourselves. On Saturday afternoon, we each had the chance to “go on a walk with Jesus.” Both of these activities led me to see how God and Jesus have influenced my life.  No matter how difficult the times got in my life, God and Jesus were always there to guide me through times of darkness and provide me with a path to find my way out of troubling times.

Self-evaluation of our relationship with God, Jesus, and our Catholic faith made up a large part of the retreat; however, we also were given the opportunity to discuss present issues in our world. The way that we discussed this was first by watching “Hotel Rwanda” starring Don Cheadle, portraying the horrors of genocide that happened in Rwanda during the mid-1990’s.  The movie brought about many emotions, and it also brought about the discussion of human dignity. It was very interesting and moving to hear how people reacted to such atrocities that sometimes happen in our world. I was able to see how God can work inside our minds by helping us realize what should be done in the world about such tragedies such as what happened in Rwanda, and how we should act as Jesus would to liberate those who need help.

I believe it is very important for each one of us to take time to look back on how you have lived your life so far, and whether or not it is in the standard that Jesus set for us.  When you get the opportunity to get away on a retreat with others I encourage you to do so. The retreat to Camp Casowasco was a very enlightening experience for me and all who attended. It is experiences like these that make me appreciate the Catholic community we have built here at Ithaca College, and also make me want to continue my faith in an active way after graduation.

Midterm/Fall Break

So if you haven't looked at a calender in the past week, we are now in October. Time flies when you're having fun writing papers, doing projects last minute, and not finding enough time in the day to get all of your work done. And as we approach the time for midterm exams and papers you may be feeling even more overwhelmed. My advise (similar to the advice I gave in my first post of the semester) is to go and unwind in some way. Here are 4 ideas for unwinding and forgetting about school work for a little bit:

1. Go on a hike. The Ithaca area has great places to hike. Whether it is Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock Falls, or up near Circles there are amazingly beautiful places to go. Hiking not only provides a great exercise, but you will find that you will be totally entranced in the beauty of nature and completely forget about the stresses of midterms. Don't forget to bring a friend!

2. You can start going to the gym, or start going back again if you haven't been there in a while. Working out not only will get you in better physical shape, but it will also provide a stress relieving activity. You will concentrate on your workout instead of stressing about classes. Working out will also help you sleep more soundly and increase your focus on daily tasks.

3. Start shopping for things to make a Halloween costume out of. Places like Trader K's and the Salvation Army are great places to go to find used clothing to make a costume (and its cheaper than buying a new costume). It is better to start getting stuff for costumes now so that you can get the good items before other people do!

4. Dine out with friends in the Commons. I know, college students are poor, but there are places in the Commons where you can get a very good meal for a good price. Restaurants like Simeons, Mahogany Grill, Ithaca Ale House, and Kilpatrick's are just a few examples of good and affordable places to eat. I guarantee you and your friends will have a good time just going out to eat for a non-dining hall meal.

There are many things to do in the Ithaca area, but these are just a few examples. So forget about midterms and go have some fun. Don't forget to bring your friends with you, because I am sure they want to get away from the stresses of midterms also!

M.E.

The O's

For anyone who follows the MLB, they have probably noticed that the Baltimore Orioles are having a great season. As an Orioles fan myself, I am very excited about this. The Orioles currently have a record of 85-64, and are going to the playoffs as it stands now.  Another reason for Orioles fans to be excited is that this is their first winning season since 1997. I could ramble on about how exciting this season has been as an Orioles fan, but I want to concentrate on one of their newest team members, Dylan Bundy.

Dylan Bundy is only 19 years old and has been able to hit triple digits with his fastball since he was in high school. Needless to say he is nothing short of being a pitching phenom. Along with being young and talented, he has also been noticed by the people of the MLB. He is currently ranked the #2 overall prospect in all the MLB. With prestigious recognition and talent comes pressure. Being 19 years old and pitching in the major leagues can accentuate the pressure of being a highly rated prospect. But, I think we can learn something from the opportunity that Dylan Bundy has been given. I know that he has a lot to fulfill, but I think with dedication he can become the great pitcher people think he can be. I think that he knows he needs to take advantage of the opportunity that he has, and knows he needs to prove himself.

We should all strive to take advantage of the opportunities we are given. When someone comes asking you for advice; that is an opportunity to become a helping hand in that person's life, and I don't think that any of us would want to let that person down. When we have expectations, we want to fulfill them. I believe that every opportunity we receive is a gift from God. And even if the opportunity may have difficulties about it, God wouldn't present us with the opportunity if he didn't already give us the abilities and tools needed to succeed with the opportunity. All of us have been given tools to achieve success, and it is our calling to use those tools to succeed when given the opportunity to do so.

Dylan Bundy has high expectations to fill throughout his MLB career. But, I believe we have higher expectations (from God) to fulfill throughout our entire lives. We must answer our calling from God and fulfill the expectations he has for us.