Almost There!

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. 

This quote is used wayyyy too much in the camp world but it seems appropriate for my current situation. One week today I will be finished all of my exams and few days after that I will be leaving Lennoxville for four months! Some of my friends are finishing up with the next few days and leaving this weekend and I am jealous that they are done exams but happy that I get to spend another week on campus and in residence. That's one thing that is weird to think about but has been on my mind a lot recently - when I come back in September I won't be living in this building in my little bog with Jocelyn and I will be responsible for my own cooking and cleaning and all that other grown up stuff! Luckily, I'll be living with some of my best friends but I will certainly miss being so close to everyone and everything and losing connections with people is one of my biggest fears for next year. But now is not the time to start worrying because I should be more focused on those things called exams. 

Since classes ended last week, I have been trying really hard to study a lot but let's face it, you can't study for 24 hours everyday. So, last Wednesday, Vicki and I went with our frosh leader to Jay Peaks for the day to get a final day of skiing in. I still can't believe that I was skiing in April but the mountain is actually staying open until the 28th which is crazy and they still have a fair amount of snow. Good thing it was pretty warm though because Vicki forgot her snow pants! When I got back from skiing, I received a hand delivered bouquet of flowers from my dad and everyone else back home and they have made a very nice addition to my room! Speaking of frosh, all of my friends that applied to be frosh leaders were accepted, which is super exciting. The frosh leader teams are made up of 4 people and the three people that Hannah applied with tricked her and told that they didn't get hired! And she didn't find out until the next morning when she was with someone else who was checking to see if his group got hired and she saw her name on the list! She was not impressed with her fellow leaders! 

 

Spring skiing!

Flowers from my daddy!

Thursday, Friday and Saturday I spent a lot of time in Dewies studying for my French Exam, which was on Sunday and my Ethics and Religious Culture Exam, which was last night. I have actually claimed a spot as my own in Dewies, because it is near a wall and an outlet but someone had the nerve to sit there today, so I will have to go and reclaim my territory at some point. I also spent a lot of time with my ERC group working on our Buddhism Unit but we have finally finished which is a weight off the shoulders. Friday night, Elizabeth and I went to the BU edition of Dragon's Den, in which 4 groups from an entrepreneurship class presented their business venture ideas in a competition to win $500. The four ideas were: a restaurant in France, a mobile app to find coupons and deals, cups that were able to detect the presence of date rape drugs and a company that would stream live events online legally. My personal favourite was the date rape cups but the prize went to the mobile app or "Coupon Crook." I thought that the proposals were for actual ideas that were going to be put into place, but I was disappointed to learn that they were just class project ideas. Oh well. Later, we had a bit of a movie marathon in my room, and watched a bit of Gidget, This is 40 and Wild Child - well, my friends lay on my bed and watched the movies while I sat at my desk and studied. 

BU Dragon's Den - the Dragons!

On Saturday, my baby brother celebrated his 12th birthday!! I am sad that I was not there to celebrate it with him but I sent him a card in the mail and left him a present hidden in my room at home! On Sunday, I wrote my exam, which went a lot better than expected and I ended up with an 86% in the class, the first of my final marks that I have gotten back. After my exam, I watched the recap of the World Synchronized Skating Championships that aired on CBC on Saturday and watched Nexxice capture the silver medal! I was also really impressed with the American team, who were from Massachusetts, competing in their home state and came third. Sorry that was a little bit of a skating tangent. 

On Monday, my friend Vicki (who is from close to Boston) and I were tracking the Boston Marathon, as she had a friend running the marathon and my friend Hayley`s dad was also running. It was really neat to watch some live footage and follow the online tracking which told you how fast the runner you were following was going, when they passed certain miles and when they finished. Hayley`s dad ended up doing really well and so did Vicki`s friend but, get this, he crossed the finish line 30 seconds before the explosion! Thank goodness him and his family were out of there before the accident, and Hayley`s family was not around either. What a horrible, horrible thing to happen at such an iconic event. 

Monday, I got a letter from BC from my friend Lance!

Later on Monday, I went to this meeting for a recruitment outreach program for the spring. All the students who were unsuccessful with their Student Ambassador applications were invited to take part in this initiative to spread the word about Bishop`s in their respective homes because despite our increasing enrollment, a lot of people still don`t know about our university. So I got some viewbooks to bring back to Ancaster, and I guess I will be paying a little visit to my high school in the coming months. Ancaster High, prepare yourself for the return of the wonderful Erica Zucker. Speaking of my high school, it caught on fire again on Friday and has been shut down since then. It was the same cause as last year's fire and luckily school had been cancelled that day so students were not in the building! While they try to solve the problem, my sister has been enjoying a nice 6 day weekend and I think she returns to school tomorrow after being off since Friday. I can`t complain however, as I have been off since last Monday and am almost completely done for the year! 

Yesterday, I spent a good chunk of time prepping with Vicki for our ERC exam, well as much prepping as you can do for an open book exam. We ended up having to watch two videos and find teachable ideas within them. It was one of those exams that you don't know how you did until you get it back so here's hoping for the best! Regardless of my mark, ERC ended up being one of my favourite courses and I learned a lot from Dr. Stonebanks, who I hope to have as a prof again in the future.To celebrate finishing the course, Vicki and I watched High School Musical complete with popcorn and French Vanilla Cappuccinos (Thank you Hannah). 

Today, it is absolutely beautiful in terms of the weather and I have been slacking a little bit in terms of studying since my next exam is not until Monday. But now the 20th Century World and French Vocabulary are calling my name and I must answer their call. Jocelyn just came in and suggested we go to the little cafe in town to do some studying in a new location so now I am looking forward to that.  Also, I just got an email asking for photos of rez rooms to potentially be featured online or in future viewbooks so I am for sure going to send in some photos of my room, because if I do say so myself, my room is pretty great. Finally, I have recently been seeing a lot of online posts entitled "What I Learned in First Year" or "Things I Wish I Had Known Before Starting First Year" so I think that sometime in the near future I will make my own - maybe it will be my final entry in this Diary of a Freshman, since I will have to change the name in September. Anywho, I must get back to cherishing every last moment of the little time I have left here so I will talk to you all later! 

All my love, Erica

PS It looks like I am going to reach my goal of hitting 5000 pageviews for the year so thank you to all my loyal readers and occasional viewers!

PPS Here is a link to an article my friend Gaby sent me this morning! It's about Canada's "new upper class" and the increase in the number of public sector workers (police, firefighters and teachers) earning over $100 000. So I invite you all to have a read - http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/04/15/the-new-upper-class/

PPPS Final Post Script - I promise! I would like to send a huugggeee HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of my best friends Elena O'Brien who is turning 19 years old today! She has been my friend since we were little figure skaters together back in Ancaster and has been by my side since the day we met! I am honestly so lucky to have this special person as a friend. Elena, have a fantastic day today! You certainly deserve it!

HBD XOXO