Bishop's Does Homecoming!!

Happy last day of September everyone! I can't believe that I have been on the BU campus for an entire month now! That being said, this has been one of the best months of my life and I am sure that every month from here on out will only get better! As I write this, I am sitting in Dewie's listening to my friends discuss the weekend, which was Homecoming 2012!

Before we get to the weekend, this week was also pretty great! On Wednesday, I went to an information session for the Mae Sot Education Project, which is a student run project that raises money to send 5 students to Thailand where they volunteer in schools for 6 months. While I don't think I am going to apply this year, it is definitely something I want to look into in the future!

On Friday, I went to my first Residence Events Committee meeting. It was made up of mostly RAs but there were a few first year students like myself. Our first event was a BBQ and face painting session before the football game on Saturday. Looking into the future, we are going to be having a Pumpkin Carving Party and a Rocky Horror Picture showing in October and also some bus trips to give students a chance to leave the campus!

On Thursday, we went to Night C of New Plays - a student run drama festival. A bunch of my friends were performing and they were all fantastic! There were 4 different plays, each with a very different theme. After that, it was country night at the Lion! It was a fundraiser for the girl's hockey team and it was a ton of fun! A LOT of people showed up - there was barely any room to dance! But nonetheless, it was still a great night! My favourite part was dressing up like a cowgirl - complete with a plaid shirt and hat!

My little celebrity Matt! He starred in the play "Three Men"

Myself, Hannah, Jocelyn and Tom outside Turner Theatre!

On Friday, there was a marathon reading of The Odyssey and my friend Hannah was signed up to read a section of the book. We went and supported her and then went to the apres-reading wine and cheese. Following that we went to the rugby game and later, my friends and I stayed in and decorated my friend Kirsten's door for her birthday on Saturday. We put up streamers and pictures and made her a card - Hannah even bought her brownies! We made her wear a birthday button around all day so that everyone knew that it was her special day!

 And of course, Saturday was homecoming! I was up at 9am to help REC set up for the BBQ! Despite the rain, many loyal Gaiters showed up to get their face painted before the football game! The Gaiters squared off against McGill and the stands were filled with alumni that were here for the weekend! As usual, there was a tailgate in the parking lot and at times, it was hard to decide whether I wanted to be in the game or at the tailgate! The Gaiters were victorious - beating McGill 26-18! That night, there were multiple victory parties all around Lennoxville, so the weekend came to a close on a pretty good note.

A Selection of Homecoming Photos (too many for just one!):

Tailgating in the parking lot!

Purple cats courtesy of REC!

Me and my balloon hat!

Supporting the local troops my buying and eating Girl Guide cookies!

Gaiter love!

The flipped car!

So it's time for me to get back to studying and prepare for the week ahead! I am so excited to head home to Ancaster for Thanksgiving but I am already starting to feel separation anxiety at the thought of leaving my BU family! Have a great week everyone!

Love Erica xoxoxo

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26 Days and Counting!

First, a quick look at some numbers: 

I have been here for a total of 26 days already! 7 of them were spent froshing, 14 have been educational and all of them have been amazing! It's hard to believe that in 11 days I will be back in Ancaster for Thanksgiving! 

It has been another exciting week here at BU! Last Sunday, my residence building, Abbott had a water gun fight with our partner building, Khuener, followed  by a Slip'n'Slide and a "munch and mingle" BBQ! It was great to meet some more people in my building and some from Khuener. As the weeks go by, I find that we are all finding our groups of friends and closing ourselves off from making new friends, so it was great to be back in the mingling mode!

Also, last Sunday, I participated in the Lennoxville Terry Fox Run with the BU Running Club. The run started and ended at the BSC campus, which is the private high school across the bridge from Bishop's. Myself and 5 other members of the club completed the 8km run along with all of the other community members that participated. Interesting fact of the day: I learned that the man who started the Terry Fox Run in Lennoxville was actually a graduate of BSC and now teaches at BU! 

Celine and I running in the Terry Fox Run!

 I am still loving all of my classes here, and I am really starting to like the professors as well. All of them are such good teachers and make it obvious that they care about their students. I think a few of them know my name and who I am now, which I think is really neat. During the day, my friends and I have taken to studying outside because the weather has been so beautiful! Unfortunately, everyday it seems to get a little bit cooler and more and more of us are starting to make our way to the library!

Hannah and I enjoying some sunshine while studying!

On Wednesday night, my residence had our first Back to Basics Disney Movie Night. If you are thinking that university students don't love their Disney movies, think again! We spent several hours cuddled up in the common room watching Aladdin and then Mulan, enjoying an assortment of snacks and more importantly, each others company. We decided that movie nights need to become a monthly occurrence. The other residences are starting to get jealous of all our activities!

Jocelyn and I at the Disney movie night!

The weekend, as usual, went by way too fast. Thursday night was "Jersey Shore at the Lion", so there were a lot of people sporting fake tans and leopard print that night. Friday we spent the day at the Sherbrooke mall and then went to the boys' rugby game against McGill. Saturday, the Gaiters won their first football game of the season against Concordia! This was their make or break game so it was super exciting for them to win! Hopefully they will be victorious against McGill next weekend for homecoming!

Hannah, Elizabeth and me at the boys' Rugby game Friday night!

Saturday night we had our first frosh reunion party. All of the members of Wolf Pack headed back to our frosh house to relive a little bit of frosh week. It was so great to be reunited! Two of the members of the pack celebrated their birthday this weekend so our frosh leaders made them a birthday cake and we serenaded them constantly throughout the night! 

Happy Birthday Nathan! (This was one of our birthday boys!)

Hannah and Vicky enjoying Nathan and Paul's birthday cake!

Looking ahead, this week is sure to be just as exciting as the last! The drama department New Plays series opens this week for 6 nights of student plays. A lot of my friends are involved with the plays, so I am looking forward to being in the audience for their debuts! Also, this weekend is homecoming, so that will be a fun time for sure! After that, it will almost be time for me to head home! Hope all is well wherever you are! Also, Happy Autumn!! 

Love, Erica xoxo

Back to the Books: First Full Week of Classes

My first full week of university classes has officially come to a close! It has once again been a very busy and very fun week here at BU! Time seems to fly by here but at the same time, I feel like I have been here for a lot longer than two weeks! I have already had to start planning my trip home for Thanksgiving! But before we jump into next month, here's a look back at my second week here on campus:

This semester I have 5 classes: Excursions in Modern Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Psychology, Philosophy of Education and Introduction to Professional Practice. The courses in the Education department (the last two in the previous list) are definitely my favourite! In Philosophy, we are learning about all of the different philosophers who have played a role in shaping the way our education system works today! Myself and 4 other people from a class just started our term project - a presentation on Friedrich Froebel, the founder of kindergarten! 

Today, for my Professional Practice class, all of the first year elementary teachers took a day trip to Lennoxville Elementary, the local English school, to observe the teachers and students. At the start of the day, I sat in on a Grade 1 French class. At LES, all students have 90 minutes of full French instruction everyday and in the kindergarten classes, they alternate between English one day and French the next. After the French class, there was a recess and then I sat with the same class while they had English instruction. The kids were so cute and I can't wait for our next visit!

Kirsten and I at the elementary school for our first placement!

In other exciting news, on Wednesday, I went with a group of people into Sherbrooke (I took public transit - be proud of me!) to go see Walk off the Earth, otherwise known as the band who plays Somebody that I Used to Know on one guitar! The theatre was honestly a replica of a castle and WOTE was actually pretty good! At the end of the show, they came out for pictures and autographs - all in all, a great night!

WOTE at Theatre Granada!

Kirsten signing the arm of one of the band members so that he will look her music up!

On Thursday, we had Club Day Round 2 and I was hooked into signing up for three more clubs. One club that I am pretty excited about is the BUMT, in which we are reading buddies and tutors for the students at LES. Actually, today when we were at the school, a lot of the kids asked if we were there for reading club! I have also been going to Running Club and even though I wake up sore every morning, it is definitely worth going to!

Finally, today the Leadership and Eco Floor groups went to Coaticook, which is home to one of the longest suspension bridges in the world! We hiked up some trails, walked across a few bridges and then walked across the actual suspension bridge. After that, we climbed up the Couillard Tower to get some scenic shots of the area and then we made a stop at the Coaticook Dairy for some delicious ice cream. 

Casual selfie on the bridge!

The Leadership and Eco Floor Group on the Bridge!

The Couillard Tower!

If after reading alll of that, you still aren't convinced that I am having the time of my life, rest assured, I 100% am! Every day just keeps on getting better and better! I love my classes, I spend hours socializing in Dewies (aka the meal hall) and I still seem to have energy to go out at night! I hope all is well wherever you are and that life is good! Leave a comment or send me a message because I'd love to hear from you!

All my love, Erica xoxo

#yofo:You Only Frosh Once

Hello again! It has been a very bittersweet night here at BU as frosh week has finally come to an end. It has been the busiest, craziest, absolute best week ever! I have joined a wolf pack, made so many new friends and done a lot of crazy things and am quite near complete exhaustion! So now, as a special treat, here is a day by day recap of Bishop's Goes Hollywood 2012!

Sunday: Around noon, all of us BU froshies went to the Quad to register for a "Frosh Team." Something unique to Bishop's is that we actually got to choose our team. Being that the theme was Hollywood, all of the teams were named after something relating to Hollywood and/or the movies (some names had a bit of a twist...Lord of the G-Strings!) There was a huge white tent set up in the Quad and after receiving a t-shirt and a bag, we entered what looked like complete mayhem. Everywhere we turned there were students dressed up in ridiculous outfits, dancing and screaming and trying to convince us to join their frosh team. I joined a team called Project XXX with a girl from my floor named Kirsten but later ended up switching to the Wolf Pack. Later that night, we had our first team meeting and the Opening Ceremonies and our first party at the Wolf Den aka our frosh house where we had a party pretty much every night. Our first big event was Gaitor Gardens which was an outdoor dance in the Quad where they were selling two dollar beers and we danced late into the night. 

Wolf Pack Ladies at the Den! The shirts were hand made by our amazing leaders!

Monday: Bright and early Monday morning we had an Academic Orientation where we had a chance to have a campus tour with a senior student in our program. Following that, we had to write the English Proficiency Exam which was 3 hours long! Not so fun after a late night of dancing! After that, we headed back to the Wolf Den for some more team fun and then all went to the Quad for the Hollerado concert! (Look them up, they're actually pretty good!) After the concert, there was an after party at the Gait (the student bar) and of course, I was out there dancing way into the night again! 

Hollerado concert in the Quad!

Tuesday: As difficult as it was, the entire Wolf Pack dragged themselves out of bed for the Hollywood Star Search (a campus tour) which turned into running around campus and proudly belting out our cheer where ever and whenever possible! Then I stood in line all afternoon to sort out my courses which thankfully are almost all sorted out. That night there was a choice of four activities, but as 2 had alcohol being served, I had a limited choice. I got a chance to learn about the campus brewery that is being installed - which is actually pretty neat!

Wednesday: The first day of classes! Because my schedule was still not finalized, I attended four classes - Math, Geography, History and Philosophy. After that, we had club sign up day and I am now a member of the Running Club, the French Club, the Rock Climbing Club and I applied to be a Big Buddy. That night, we met at the Wolf Den for the Lennoxville Scavenger Hunt. Just take a minute to picture hundreds of university students running around a small town yelling, cheering and doing every task under the sun in order to win challenges and earn points for their frosh team (Example: Performing the opening scene of the Lion King)! Then, we went to Principal Goldbloom's house (which is actually on campus) and proudly sang him the BU school song - Raise a Toast!

Thursday: Thursday was Shine Day - a day dedicated to raising money for Cystic Fibrosis research! I attended a zumba class in the Quad and bought a Raise a Toast wrist band to support this awesome cause! Later that night, there was bingo with some "sexy" prizes and then it was Opening Night at the Gait! Dancing it up at the Gait has become my new favourite activity and luckily my new friends aren't too embarrassed my dance moves!

Myself, Julia, Jocelyn and Hannah hanging at the Wolf Den!

The Wolf Pack looking classy!

Friday: The day kicked off with Field Day but since I had class I did not get to attend. From what I saw, there was a lot of mud, water and mayonnaise involved! Later that night, we had Disney Dance Battles and the Wolf Pack battled against A Walk to Remember to the classic Aladdin song "Prince Ali"! 

The Wolf Pack rehearsing at the Den!

Two frosh teams battling it out at Centennial!

Saturday: The Gaitors had their first football game of the year and squared off against Laval. The game was  definitely one of the highlights of my week! We sat right in the middle of the rowdy section and I lost count of the number of time we sang Raise a Toast! During the second half, I was standing on the front bench and couldn't see a thing but we all just kept right on cheering! Unfortunately, the Gaitors were not victorious but that didn't stop us from having a late night victory party at the Gait!

Pre game tailgate in the Coulter Field Parking Lot!

Purple Pride! Let's go Gaitors!

Sunday: Whether we wanted to or not, today was a day for resting and studying. On a side note, I successfully cleaned Jocelyn and mine's bathroom. One of my new not favourite activities is sitting in my room reading textbooks which I ended up doing for most of the day. The day closed with the Academy Awards, where there were awards given out for Frosh King and Queen, best team spirit, most frosh points, etc. The Wolf Pack got the Award for Best Leaders! I can't say thank you enough to Denise, Sam, Jen and Brewer for leading us through such a great week!They certainly deserved their golden gatorade bottle! 

Jocelyn and I at the Academy Awards! 

I think I speak for majority of my BU class when I say I am going to sleep like a rock tonight. However, as one of the BU judges said tonight, it has only been one week - we've still got an entire year ahead of us! Everyday, I become more and more thankful that I get to be a part of the Bishop's experience! I hope you are all having great times wherever you are and know that I am thinking of you! Wish me luck as I head back into reality and my first full week of university classes! Erica xoxo

First Week, First Post

Hi everyone!

First of all, I need to give credit to my new friend Matt who gave me the idea of writing a blog to share with all of you back home. Since I have been receiving many messages asking about my first week at school, I thought this would be a great way to update you on my new life! As of yesterday, I have officially been here for one week and it has definitely been one of the busiest weeks of my life! So without further adieu, here is a recap of the start to my university career!

Last Wednesday, Heather (my mom), Lauren, Jamie and I set off for the 8 hour drive to Sherbrooke, Quebec. We arrived here on campus on Thursday (back in the spring, I applied to be a part of the Residence Leadership Community and as a result, got to move in two days early) and moved all of my stuff into my new home aka my residence room in Abbott Hall. After two long hours, I was all settled in and the four of us went to an amazing restaurant called Fondue-folie for some, you guessed it, fondue! I spent my first night here in residence with my bogmate, Jocelyn and also got a chance to meet some of the other leadership members.

On Friday, the Residence Leadership Community and the Residence Eco Floor group took a day trip to Mount Orford, a popular place to ski in the winter and went for a climb up the mountain. There were 19 people in our group that day, including our staff advisor John Page and the two Resident Advisors, Lily and Maria. Hiking up the mountain was one of the toughest but most rewarding things I have ever done. During the entire climb, I couldn't help but think about the fact that a climb that was taking us two hours takes a mere five minutes to ski down in the winter. Nonetheless, I can now check "Climb a mountain" off of my bucket list and I made a lot of new friends along the way. 

My bogmate, Jocelyn and I climbing Mt Orford!

Posing at the top of the Mountain!

Saturday was the official move in day for everyone else so I spent the day with my family, as they stayed in Sherbrooke for a few extra days. There was a reception for parents, followed by a Purple Pride BBQ and then goodbyes. I admit, it was hard to say goodbye to my mom and siblings, but it helped that as soon as they left, "orientation week" activities started. 

Almost immediately, all of the new students that are living in residence were shuttled into Centennial Theatre. Hundreds of students wearing a t-shirt with the name of their residence made their way into the theatre where we heard welcoming speeches from many important people on campus, such as Principal Goldbloom, followed by a guest speaker, Jenn McMillan and then a performance from the incredible Boris. 

Boris is a famous hypnotist and he began by calling anyone who wanted to be hypnotized up on to the stage. I went up, but (un)fortunately was not hypnotized, however many of my new peers were. They had to do things such as paddle down the Colorado River, dance around the theatre and walk the cat walk. One of my friends was told that for the rest of the show he would be known as Chip and when saying his name he had to give a thumbs up. Much to his dismay, the name and action have stuck with him through our entire frosh week. 

The victims of the Incredible Boris

Following the hypnotist, we had the kick off of REZ WARS, a year long competition between all of the residence buildings. We had activities such as dodgeball, capture the flag, tye dye and a slip 'n slide and played well into the night. I am confident that Abbott will take home the Rez Cup at the end of the year! Let's go New Side!

So, I have decided that I will do my first week in two posts before this one gets too long! Check back again soon to hear about Bishop's Goes Hollywood: Frosh Week 2012!

Miss you and love you all! Erica xoxo