Spare Time is for the Weak

Good evening everyone! Now that I have de-thawed my fingers, I am here to bring you the full report on my latest week in Lennoxville! This week honestly flew by - I cannot believe that it is Sunday night already. I simply cannot keep up. Looking ahead is even a bit overwhelming right now, with all the stuff I have to do - this week, this month and this semester. It's also hard to believe that we are entering the last week of January, meaning classes and projects are in full swing and there is no room for slacking off. I am running a bit short on sleep right now but here's hoping tonight I can get myself to bed early to recover from a busy week and to prepare for an even busier one ahead!

Alright, so if you saw any of my pictures from last weekend, the weather here was absolutely beautiful - perfect winter temperatures! That all changed at the start of the week as the thermometer creeped back down towards the -30s! Needless to say, it was not an enjoyable experience waiting for my carpool on Monday morning on the side of the road! But I am happy to report that all the ice is gone and we have a lot of great snow in its place. My practicum was great on Monday and we got to stay for the entire school day as we had a cancelled class in the afternoon. I got to evaluate my students' reading for their DRA testing. My associate teacher had me record each of the students on an iPad and then showed me how to do the scoring. I got through about half the class for both my grade 3/4 class and my grade 6 class, which my teacher was really happy about. I also got to go out for recess with my students and they showed me the snow fort they had constructed and I got to eat lunch in the cafeteria with them. It is this out-of-the-classroom time that I really like because it helps me get to know my students a lot better as people and not just as students. This is something I will always remember as I head towards my future career. We have to remember that our students are also kids and are each funny and interesting in their own unique ways. Anyway, it was great to stay for the whole day and I will be sad to only spend a half day there tomorrow. But there is a substitute teacher coming in so hopefully she will let me help out! 

After practicum, I went to the gym with my friend Guillaume, who I go to practicum with. We bonded over both having achilles tendonitis. Following the gym, I went to the Golden Key executive meeting and got to hear about the events they are planning for the rest of the semester. My grand suggestion was a Golden Key wine and cheese so that members can mingle and get to know one another. I am not quite sure if I am officially on the executive committee yet but I will find out tomorrow I think. It is unfortunate that the meetings are at the same time as knitting club though, as I much prefer going to knitting. We will have to see what ends up happening. Following the meeting, I had to go to another meeting - this one was for the Education Gala planning team. It was the first meeting but we got a lot accomplished. I am going to be helping my friend Kirsten on the design committee, meaning decorations, tickets, etc. and I am really excited to contribute to the planning this year. I am hoping that my associate teacher will attend - I am even considering buying her a ticket to thank her for everything she has done for me over the course of the year. Also, to any education students reading this - mark your calendars for March 22nd from 5:30-9:30pm, which is when the gala is being held! 

Following the meetings, I went to Provigo to buy groceries for the week and then finally came home (a long 14 hour day away from home). I was up late doing homework and then up early to do more homework Tuesday morning. I went down to campus to see the Exchange Coordinator and was finally able to see her. After talking with her, I have decided that I am going to apply to the Université  Francois Rabelais in Tours, France. The application is due this Friday so I have a lot to get done to hand in. Now the big decision is whether or not I go for the whole year, which I am leaning towards doing. As of next week, I will let you know all of the finalized details. 

Following my meeting, I went to the gym for a swim and then to my two afternoon classes. My Child Development prof was sick so class was cut short and I was able to come home and get some work done before going to the student ministry dinner with my friend Gaby. Following a delicious chilli dinner, I went to my Children's Lit class and despite forgetting my book, the second class was A LOT better than the first. I now have my group for my group project and reading circle and we have to decide on the three books we will read this semester. I have some ideas, such as The Secret Garden, The Little Princess, Matilda, Charlotte's Web and Mary Poppins (the original) but will also have to see what my group members want. Now that I have my group and am more comfortable with the people in the class, I am looking forward to the class a lot more. I am even enjoying the readings, despite the Old English that is used. 

Class ended early so I was able to get home earlier than usual. Despite my good intentions to get some homework done, I only got a bit done and then ended up reading some posts on Thought Catalog, which is an online blogging community. The most interesting one of the night was about different kinds of pizza that would make good boyfriends. Don't ask. I finally put myself to bed and then had a slight sleep-in on Wednesday before getting up to do some homework and go to the gym before class. My K-E curriculum class was great because my prof was back from Malawi so we were able to get things started for the semester. Dr. Stonebanks was my ERC prof last year and I am excited to have him again. The line of the day was "Erica, if I was to write a paper, I would chose someone like you so that I could be listed first" (since Zucker comes after Stonebanks alphabetically). Jocelyn is taking one of his classes too so I hope she likes him as much as I do. Following class, I did some work in the Education lounge (I raised my Virtual Child who is now 1 year old) and then Jocelyn and I walked home together and I made chicken for dinner. It was my first time cooking chicken legs (I bought them because they were 99 cents/pound at Prov) and I bought the St. Hubert chicken sauce to go along with them, which was quite tasty. Following dinner, it was another quiet night and I was able to get a good amount of work done, including my readings for my classes the next day. 

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY BABY BRIDGETTE! 

Thursday was the same drill as the past two: I got up, did homework and went to the gym before class. I only had Reading Process because my prof was sick so Child Development was cancelled, which was too bad. Being the good student that I am, I went to the library and did my readings for that class in order to stay on top of things (give me a minute to pat myself on the back). Following a long stay at the library, I came home and made myself salmon for dinner and then ended up on the couch with my housemates watching Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging on Netflix. It is a movie about 15 year old girls in England dealing with typical 15 year old girl things (i.e. throwing a great birthday party and getting boyfriends). It was great. We all did some homework and then bundled up to the extreme (I wore my Roots salt and pepper track suit - sweater, sweat pants and socks) to go to the Residence Events Committee Midnight pool party. Despite the long walk in the freezing cold, the party was a lot of fun! Elizabeth, Hannah, Jocelyn and I were the first people there but then some of my Mackinnon residents showed up and we all had a blast. They should definitely have pool parties more often. All of the residents and RAs thought we were crazy for walking all the way to campus to swim for an hour but we didn't care. We just made sure to bundle up our wet hair to walk home. 

Friday I got up and did homework allllll morning (I'm starting to feel like I live under a pile of readings) and then Jocelyn and I went to the gym while Hannah gave a campus tour. Jocelyn is a great gym buddy. It is so much less lonely when she comes with me. Following our work out, we came home to do more homework and then I went to the free church dinner with Vicki before heading to work for the night. I worked from 6:30 until 2am. Luckily, the Mackinnon boys let me hang out with them and watch the hockey game otherwise I would have been pretty lonely and probs would have fallen asleep somewhere in the building. The building was quiet as a lot of the residents were at a fashion show fundraiser at the Gait so it was a pretty easy night. I even got a reading done and finished my hat for knitting club, so all in all, it was an easy, but successful night. 

Saturday, I had Big Buddies and it was Dinosaur Day. Hannah was all excited to see me as it was our first Big Buddies day of the semester and I was just as excited to see her. There were 3 different stations set up - there was a dino egg hunt outside, a dino egg race in the SUB hallway and a fossil making station in the Gait. Hannah had zero interest in all of the stations so after we tried the egg race, we played in the elevator, had some pretzels and jello, skipped, played tag and then played soccer in a hallway in the basement. That girl never runs out of energy! I was chasing her around for half an hour at least! Good thing I am in pretty good shape! I think she had a lot of fun though and she asked if she could come back on Sunday. Unfortunately, our next event isn't for another two weeks but I can't wait to hang out with her again. 

Hannah and me at Big Buddies on Saturday! 

After Big Buddies, Jocelyn and I went to the gym and then met up with Hannah to walk home. We were having a party at our house that night so we came home to have dinner and get ready. It was a birthday party for Elizabeth's friend Cameron. It was our biggest party to date! Our house was filled to capacity! There was a big outdoor party at a house closer to campus so we started to lose some people as the night wore on but our house was packed for majority of the night! I think people were enjoying the warmth (and our company). Hannah made a delicious chocolate birthday cake for Cameron which was a nice midnight snack, so Happy 19th Birthday Cameron! We did not make it to the outdoor party but I was quite ok with that. And I think we can say that our first house party of the semester was a grand success!

Happy 19th Birthday Cameron! 

This morning, we woke up and had some cleaning to do before attending to our varying amounts of homework. Hannah and I went skating in the afternoon, our usual Sunday activity, and we saw a few of the Mackinnon boys there, which was a lot of fun. One of them had not been skating in 9 years and was out for his first time since being here. He is a big football player but while he was skating, I skated up behind him and gave him a little, tiny push and he was so scared! I can't often scare football players but I did today! I also was able to do a shoot the duck for the first time which was really exciting (see photo below)! Despite being a year and a half into competitive figure skating retirement, I still have some tricks up my sleeve! While we were skating, at one point, I looked over and saw some other little figure skaters trying to do shoot the ducks which was fun to see. Sunday skating is definitely one of the high points of my week. I don't know why I didn't go at all last year. 

Me showing off at public skating!

I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing readings and doing homework and once I finish this, I am going to rehearse my lesson for tomorrow and then write my application letter to my potential exchange school. Here's hoping they will accept me! Maybe I will mention my blog and how it has helped attract students to Bishop's, and then they might want me to come to help attract exchange students to them! Also, speaking of blogs, I wrote my first post of the semester for the Bishop's blog project about living off campus, so check it out if you aren't sick of my writing yet! (http://blog.ubishops.ca/blog/life-campus/) That brings me to the end of this week's post so I wish you all a wonderful week and hope that the sunshine will find you at some point so you do not freeze! 

All my love, 

Erica xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

PS Half an hour until the Bachelor wedding for Sean and Catherine. I will not be tuning in tonight but will for sure be streaming it with Jocelyn later in the week! 

PPS Congratulations to my sister's cheerleading team who came first in their competition this weekend! She's such a superstar! 

PPPS Two big birthday shout outs to two of my best friends from summer camp - Hannah and Keillor! Wishing you both wonderful birthdays and wonderful years! Love and miss <3 

Winterfest Wonderland!

Hello everyone! Today's post comes to you from the Mackinnon common room where I am eating dinner while the surrounding residents watch the NFL game. I feel slightly out of place due to the fact that I am the only female in the room and also a duty helper so I hope I am not cramping their style. I just needed a table and WiFi, which is how I ended up here. Anywho, tonight marks the end of a fabulous week and I am excited to tell you all about it! (Ok five girls just arrived so I feel a little less outnumbered)

Alrighty, so the week started off wonderfully as Monday was my first day back to practicum! Despite having to get up before 7 (which was slightly painful), it was 100% worth it to see my students again! They all remembered me and asked me about my holidays, but were slightly thrown off that I was there on a Monday. On a side note, even my students are aware of my addiction to Starbucks as the firs thing one said to me was "Miss Erica did you get to have Starbucks over the break?" I did not get to teach anything unfortunately but I was able to chat with my associate teacher about her plans for the upcoming weeks, so tomorrow I will be helping her with reading assessment. I also want to ask her if I can create a project to do with the students about the Olympics. I want to do a project with them that I did in grade six where each student chose an aspect of the games to focus on and gathered information about it and then shared it in some way with the class. I was thinking that with their iPads they have so much access to different types of media coverage that they would all be able to come up with something super creative, so I will chat with my teacher about it tomorrow. I also got to go out on duty during recess for the first time which would have been fun except for the fact that the playground was one giant sheet of ice and I kept falling down (which the students thought was hilarious). If my playground in elementary had been like that, it would have been a blacktop recess for sure. It was hard to leave practicum but I had to get back for my first Monday of classes. 

I had two classes - my practicum small group meeting and Introduction to Kindergarten and Elementary Curriculum. My one professor is away in Africa so it was his wife (who is a prof at McGill) who taught the first class for K-E. She is really nice so I did not mind. We had to tell a story about a teacher or learning moment that motivated us to learn so I told a story about when my high school music teacher failed my playing test in front of the entire class. For some reason, I found it really motivating to try to prove her wrong the next time I played the solo. Following class, I went to knitting club, which is now on Mondays and brought Hannah along with me, who is quite the avid knitter herself. I was so proud to hand my finished hat to Wendy, the head of the club and as a reward, got a new ball of wool to make a new hat. After that, I went to Provigo to do my weekly shopping and then went home for our first family dinner of the semester, cooked by Jocelyn. I then did some homework and had a fairly early night as it was an exhausting day and I had a big week ahead. 

Tuesday I woke up early and went to see Dr. Gulliver, who is the chairperson of the education department. I needed to get a letter of approval from him for my exchange application. He was impressed at all the planning I had already done so he was happy to approve my request. I then tried to go see the exchange coordinator but the line was too long for me to wait in. She is really busy right now with all the new international students who are still trying to sort their semesters out. I then went for a swim and to my two afternoon classes, the Reading Process and Child Development. I am really, really enjoying the classes and feel like I learn a lot about kids and learners by the time both classes are over. I then tried to go to the exchange office again but the coordinator was busy. Again. So I went home, did some homework, CALLED MY SISTER BECAUSE IT WAS HER SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY and then went to the first Student Ministry dinner of the semester, where we had stew and chocolate cake for dinner. A lot of our friends made an appearance so these dinners are becoming quite the social outings. Sarah said they are serving about 300 people each week. After that, I had my first night class, History of Children's Lit. It was with one of my favourite professors but it is going to be a lot of readings and a lot of work. And some of the early works that we have to read are written in such old English that it takes me a few tries to figure out what the author is saying. But as long as I put in the work, I am sure it will be a good class. 

Wednesday I had planned to go to the exchange office again but got sidetracked doing homework. Then, I was supposed to go to a trial fitness class at the gym but when I got there, nobody else was at the class, not even the instructor! Apparently, I was the only one who wanted to do some extreme fitness on a Wednesday morning. So I ran on the treadmill for a bit and then went to my afternoon class. I had also signed up for a free yoga class trial after class, so I went to that and it was really nice. Apparently, the football coach wants the football players to try out a yoga class so there were a bunch of football boys there and they were trying so hard to do the poses! I'm sure by the end of the semester, their flexibility will improve! Following that, I had planned to go to the library to do a reading but I saw my friends Jason and Steph as I was leaving and they invited me to do the free Zumba class with them (did I mention that it was trial week at the gym?). So I stayed for half of the class and then went and signed a textbook out of the library and took it home to do my reading. I came home and made hamburgers for dinner (PC menu burgers, not home made unfortunately) and we had a nice family dinner, followed by some homework and then a screening of the Bachelor. Jocelyn and I found out that Sarah is also an avid Bach fan so our Bachelor parties are growing. If you are in Lennoxville and need some great reality tv in your life, our Bach parties are open to all. 

Thursday, I made another appearance at the Exchange office but again couldn't get in to see the coordinator. It was just not my week apparently. I went for a swim at the gym and then to class. In reading process, we had to get into groups for our term project, so I am working with my friends Jason and Vicki and a new to the program student Shayne and we are doing a class lesson on spelling. I think it would be cool to do some sort of spelling bee or test simulation where students are given different disabilities to portray while trying to spell the words. Just a beginning idea. Following class, I went home and then to Provigo to buy some sushi to take with me to work that night. I was on duty with Vicki on Thursday so I went down to campus and started off the night eating sushi with chopsticks (impressive, I know) in the Mackinnon kitchen. Vicki and I did a round together, I met some more residents and then we watched Scott and Tessa in the common room together. I was so excited that the tv was free to watch the show and happy that Vicki wanted to watch it with me. We then took turns doing rounds on the half-hour and worked together to "encourage" residents to leave once quiet hours started. The residents were really fun though, showing me their beer mountain (a collection of beer cans and bottles duct taped together in a closet) and their funny videos. One of the RAs Rob had a "Beat the Hangover" event in the common room at 1am, so all the residents came home from the Gait to get gatorade, hot dogs and Kraft Dinner before heading to bed. One of the residents there introduced herself to me and said that she had read my blogs last year which helped her choose Bishop's. Similar to when this happened in October, I almost started tearing up I was so flattered. I am so happy that I have been able to meet some of my previously unknown readers! 

Sushi date for one! 

After a late night (aka 4am bedtime), I got up to go skiing at Jay Peak with my friends Rob and Dave. They had told me they were leaving between 8 and 9 so I got up and made my lunch and waited in my bed for their text. They didn't wake up until quarter to 9 so changed the pick up time to quarter to 10. Once they got me, we had to go pick up their other friend Max in Paterson who then forgot his passport so it was about 10:20 by the time we left Lennoxville. The drive to the border was smooth but then we got chosen for a search at the border and what an intense search it was! They made us empty all of our pockets and looked through our jackets and were frankly, not very nice to us. I guess they were just doing their job. So we were finally allowed into the USA but then we made a wrong turn and got lost which detoured our trip by another 40 minutes. We finally made it to the hill by 12:30. Luckily I had my lunch to eat in the car. The conditions were beautiful once we got there though! I skied the first run with the boys but they wanted to do the trails in the forest so I skied on my own for a bit and then met up with them for the last hour of the day. When we were coming down our last run, Rob wanted to do a glade run which I told him would not lead back to where we were parked but he didn't believe me and down we went. Like I had predicted, we were on the wrong side so luckily, we could take the shuttle bus back to the parking lot. Despite all the inconveniences, the skiing was great! And I had a nice nap all the way back to Lennoxville. 

That night, my housemates and I went out to the Dragon Society's Keg Party, which was a fundraiser for the fraternity and the cheerleading club. There, I ran into a few Japanese exchange students and 2 of them are students from Yamaguchi and knew some of my students from the fall. One of them has a class with me so I introduced her to several of my friends in the program that were at the party as well. The party was not as packed as we had expected but that was ok because majority of my friends were there, including Vicki, making her first appearance off campus. We were on the dance floor dancing and all of a sudden the music started getting better and we looked up at the DJ and it was our new friend Shayne from our Reading Process group! We stayed and danced until maybe 1:30ish and then left and brought some friends back to our house for a bit. All in all, it was a great first night out for me and I am excited for more fun nights to come!

I swear Sarah was there we just didn't get a picture with her on my camera! 

Saturday, Elizabeth's friend Maddy who lives at the bottom of our street invited us over for brunch, so Jocelyn, Hannah, Elizabeth and I went over and had mimosas, eggs, toast, bacon and fruit salad with Maddy and our other friend Sarah. I then went home and went for my first outdoor run since Halloween (and wore my fancy new running jacket - thanks Dad!). I had only planned to go for 40 minutes and set my timer accordingly, but my alarm went off when I was still 15 minutes away from home! My ankle hurts a bit now but nothing like in November, so I will rest it, ice it and stretch it a lot before I run again. Then my housemates and I went to the Winterfest Rail Jam, which is when the SRC sets up a whole bunch of outdoor activities in our Quad, including a scaffolding with rails for skiing and snowboarding on and there is a competition for boarders and skiers. There was also a ball hockey tournament, ice bar, and a DJ and dance floor. It was an absolutely beautiful day and a ton of my friends were there so it was a great afternoon! One of the guys who lives across the road from us was in the competition so we were sort of cheering him on. We treated ourselves to hot chocolate and bailey's from the ice bar and cuddled under the space heater to keep warm once the sun went down. The competition wrapped up around 5pm so we headed home to de-thaw!

That night, Hannah's frosh group was having a reunion party, since our friend Kevin, who was one of the leaders, was back in town before he leaves to go on exchange in Japan. The party expanded beyond just the one frosh group so we went over to hang out for a bit. When we got there, there were balloons and party hats and cake - they had turned the party into a birthday party for Taylor, though his birthday is not until May. I think they just wanted to smash the cake in his face which they did after singing happy birthday. Poor Taylor :( at least it was good icing! There was a huge concert at the Gait that night but we did not want to pay the $10 to go so we stayed at the apartment party. I have made a promise to myself to try to go out a bit more this semester but by the time 2am rolled around I was ready for bed so Vicki, me and 2 residents left around 2:30 and they walked me to the main road before going our separate ways. 

You can't really tell but I am hugging the dog that was at the party! 

And today. I spent the morning doing homework, talking to my dad and uploading some shots of the weekend to Facebook. Oh yes, and I accessed my virtual child account so spent an hour raising my new baby Bridgette! (see photos below - she is already 8 months old!) Then, Sarah, Elizabeth, Hannah and I went skating at the campus rink. Our skating club is growing! We were joking about getting WP skating sweaters to wear when we go now. Maybe I will have to whip something up at knitting. I did some more homework in the afternoon and then packed up my dinner and homework to go to work. The night got off to a rough start, as security did not yet have keys for me to use, so I was a bit stuck with how I was going to get into the building. Luckily, a fellow RA Sam let me in and another lent me some keys in case there are any lockouts. Luckily, Sundays are only 11:30 nights so I will be able to get home and rest up for practicum in the morning! 

She's growing up so fast! 

So as you can see, my life is just as busy as usual. I might have to allow myself a little sleep in sometime in the near future to catch up on sleep. I do not work any late nights this week which is nice. Other fun things coming up this week include: going to the Golden Key executive meeting tomorrow and Big Buddies starting up on Saturday, followed by a fundraiser in the evening. I have lots of school work to do on top of it all so time management will be key! And it is supposed to get pretty cold here so good thing I am all set with my parka and new Sorel boots! 

Wishing you a wonderful week! 

All my love, Erica xoxoxoxoxoxo

PS Other important news:

1. Happy 40th Birthday to my Uncle Andrew! Hope you are enjoying your surprise vacation weekend!

2. Happy 19th Birthday to my best friend Andrea! The lucky duck got to go see Wicked last night which I am sure was amazing! 

3. My sister and mom were in Indianapolis for the weekend at the "Cheer-lympics." Haven't heard the final results yet but I am sure that they were wonderful! Go Sharks! 

Lennoxville aka The Town-Sized Icy Slip'n'Slide

Warning: I took almost no pictures this week so I am sorry to all the visual learners out there! 

Good evening friends! I hope that you all had a good week back to school and work and that this weekend has left you well-rested for another great week! I myself cannot quite believe that I have only been back here for one week - it feels like so much longer since I was in Ancaster. Maybe that's because my time here has been split between being super busy one day and then a couch potato the next. Anyway, it is great to be back and I am happy that all of my housemates have (finally) made it home and I am super excited for the semester ahead. 

Alright, so I left off last week with RA training just beginning. After a very tame first day, training was kicked into high gear on Monday. First, we had breakfast all together in the dining hall (good for me as my fridge was still very empty). After that, we had the much anticipated "Behind Closed Doors" session. For this, the senior RAs and team coordinators, along with our bosses, were divided up into 3 different residence rooms. Outside each door, there was a scenario posted which described what the RA was walking into. We traveled around in groups of 5 and had to read the scenario and then elect one person to go into the room and deal with what was going on. The scenarios ranged from a highly intoxicated student to suicidal students. For mine, I walked in on someone having an allergic reaction. Despite the situation being pretend, I was still very stressed and it took me a minute to put two and two together and go find the resident's Epi-Pen. Eventually, my camp counselor training kicked in and I was able to deal with the situation and everyone applauded my first act as a duty helper. 

After BCD, we had lunch together and then had a session with the BU Ombudsman, Dr. Malley. I had no idea this job even existed so it was informative for me as a student, not just for my residence job. After that, the RAs met in their individual committees (for example. the Events Committee which I was a part of last year) and so I gave some input to the dining committee. My suggestion for milk frothers around campus in order to make lattes was not well received but my suggestion to have country theme days during the Olympics was taken into consideration. Following that, I took a break from training and went to the gym and then went for a team dinner in Mackinnon with the other Mack RAs. Amanda the TC made us all pasta and salad and cookies for dessert. It was delicious! It was also really nice to have some time to get to know the team I will be working with. On the team, there is TC Amanda, Sr. RA Amanda, and RAs Rob, Sam and of course, Vicki (and now Duty Helper Erica). Once dinner was finished and we were all socialized out, I snuck into the common room to watch the second half of the Bachelor (perks of the job) before heading home to greet my recently-arrived housemates, Hannah and Jocelyn. Yay for no more empty house!!

I did not have any training on Tuesday, so I was able to have my first sleep-in of the break (much needed). I then did a much needed grocery run and made the trek to the gym for a swim. It was a pretty laid back day but I was invited to the new student dinner at Dewies that night as a part of the Rez Life team so back to campus I headed. The dinner was for new students, exchange students, Rez Life employees and SRC members, in order to make the new students feel welcomed on campus. I sat with a new student Vicky from China, a friend from my residence last Jay, one of my profs Sunny and an RA Tony. Jay was telling me how he is planning to start a BU Chinese Student Association and he invited me to be a member. After dinner, I did my first shadow round of Mack with Amanda and then went on the new students bowling trip. 

My friend Jason, who is also the VP Student Affairs was coordinating the bowling trip and as a member of the Rez Life team I was able to go, as there was space left on the bus. We went to one of the 8 bowling alleys in Sherbrooke and were divided into teams of new students, old students, SRC members, etc. I bowled with Jay and 3 new students - Katherine, a recent CEGEP graduate, Marina, a student from Thailand, and Clément, an exchange student from France. After one round, the 4 of them went to play pool so I joined Jason's group and bowled with him, 3 CEGEP graduates and Ayah, an exchange student from Germany. Since we had two lanes, we played one round where you bowled with your left hand on one lane and right hand on the other. The left hand lane ended with the higher score and yet none of us were left handed! We bowled until 11:30pm and then headed back to BU. Upon return, I headed back home and was happy to find that Elizabeth had made it back to school!

Our new house hangout spot

Wednesday was an even lazier day as I had absolutely no plans or commitments. I spent majority of the day on the couch with Elizabeth knitting and watching Pretty Little Liars on Netflix. I went to the gym in the afternoon and then stopped in Mack afterwards to see Vicki, who was also with Sam. I came home and made my first meal of the semester - cranberry pork tenderloin - from a recipe taken from the Hamilton Spectator (see my Pinterest board). Following dinner, Jocelyn and I streamed the Bachelor and watched the season premiere. Hannah joined us for a bit but eventually couldn't watch anymore. Although I had seen half of the episode, it was much better with Jocelyn as we are both huge fans. Needless to say, we are excited to watch Juan Pablo on his journey to find love. 

Thursday was the first day of classes!!! I woke up and did a living room workout, which Hannah and Elizabeth caught a few glimpses of. They particularly liked that I was using soup cans as hand weights, so that gave them a good laugh. I had two classes that afternoon - The Reading Process and Psychology of Child Development. Both classes left me feeling pretty overwhelmed as they have a lot of work involved but I guess I will just have to be very on task this semester. On a side note, I am very excited to raise a virtual child for Child Development (an online program we get to do)! We get to name our child and make parenting decisions for it - I can't wait! After my classes, I went over to my friend Gaby's house for tea and muffins (unfortunately, I had a wipeout on the ice on the sidewalks on the way there). Elizabeth and another friend Stephanie were also there, so we spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on each other's lives. We then headed home for dinner and brought Gaby with us. After watching a few episodes of Pretty Little Liars, Elizabeth and Hannah went out for the night, Gaby went home and Jocelyn and I finally spent longer than 20 minutes in each other's presence and had a much needed catch-up session.  She had been super busy with her new job at Paterson so it was our first time being home together, so it was nice to finally see and talk to her. 

Friday, I got up and did some research for my exchange year, sending out various emails to all the different people that need to approve my participation. Jocelyn and I then went to the gym together before she headed off to work and I went to the mall. Jason had organized a bus trip to the mall for the new students and any students in residence but there was room on the bus so Hannah and I tagged along. My main motivation for going was to go to the new Starbucks in Target. I know, I know, I had only been here for 5 days and I was already in need of a shopping trip but I swear I didn't buy anything I didn't need. I restocked our tea cupboard at David's Tea, bought some yarn at the craft store and Hannah did some grocery shopping at the Super C. Right when we were about to go to Starbucks and wait around for the bus, I noticed that my mittens had fallen out of my pocket. We spent the next 20 minutes retracing our steps and were having absolutely no luck. When there was 10 minutes until departure, I sent Hannah to the bus and was heading off to keep looking when I passed by the customer service desk and saw my mittens on the desk!! Hallelujah! We power walked to Starbucks and I finally got my Chai Tea Latte and treated Hannah to a frappucino. All in all, a successful mall trip. 

We got back to school around 4:30 and then headed home, me to do exchange research and Hannah to make dinner. It was my most successful research session by far. I have finally picked out a few potential school options - 1 in Tours, 1 in Lyon and 1 in Toulouse and I was able to email so details to my parents. Following a delicious lasagna dinner, Jocelyn, Hannah and I went with our friends Mike, Tim, Taylor, Spencer, Elliot and Kirsten to go, you guessed it, bowling. When was the last time I went bowling twice in 1 week? Answer: not since I was 8 years old and bowling birthday parties were all the rage. We went for the midnight bowling, where it was $45 per lane for unlimited bowling until 3am. We started out at 5 pin bowling and then moved over to 10 pin once two lanes were available. Apparently I left my bowling skills at home as I could not throw the ball straight for the life of me. Oh well, I guess I will have to cross pro bowler off my list of potential careers. We bowled until 1:30 in the morning and then headed home to bed. 

Saturday I slept in, as that night was my first shift on duty so I needed to be well-rested. I got up and did some more exchange research, did some homework and then went to the gym. It was my lucky day there as TSN was playing the Canadian National Skating Championships so I stayed at the gym for much longer than I planned on just watching the skating. After coming home for a quick shower and a snack, I headed to campus for my first night of rounds. I met Amanda at 6:15, picked up my radio and RA duty bag and then went to Mack to get started. We didn't have to start until 7pm so I went to the Munch and Mingle event in the common room for some chips and root beer. And then the fun began. At 7pm, Amanda and I did a complete lap of the building, which took about 45 minutes because we stopped to talk to a lot of the residents. They were all really welcoming to me, so the night was off to a good start. Following the round, I wrote my first duty log, meaning I made some notes about what I saw during the round. I then ate my dinner, which I had brought in my lunch bag, and hung out with Vicki until my next round at 9pm. For the rest of the night, Amanda and I did rounds on the hour, wrote our logs and then watched Gilmore Girls until it was time to walk around again. It was a pretty tame night as people were coming and going from the building and many of them ended up at the Gait at the 2 Year's Eve party. I was said that I couldn't go but my friends never made it to the Gait so who knows if I would have either. Vicki hung out with Amanda and I until 1am  and then Amanda's boyfriend came home and was with us until 2. Eventually, they both hit the hay and so it was just Amanda and I until 3:30. We handed our radios in at 3:45 and then I walked home to go to bed. I came home to find Jocelyn and Hannah asleep with the lights on, so I tucked them into bed before passing out for the night. 

Due to my late night, I allowed myself a sleep in until noon. I haven't slept in that long in forever but it was much needed since I was up until 4:30. Once I was up and functioning, Hannah and I went public skating and were there from 1 until 2:45. There were so many people there! At one point, it was actually hard to skate around, but it cleared up as the afternoon wore on. Once skating was over, we came home and decided to dig out our garbage cans around back as the snow and ice were finally soft enough to shovel. Well, somewhat anyway. Our walkway up to our house is still covered in ice but we were able to get our garbage, recycling and compost bins out. We saw our neighbour and discovered that he is actually in one of Hannah's classes. Hopefully, the snow and ice will continue to melt so that we can dig a safe path to our front door. When we got back from skating, I finally saw Sarah, who had gotten in to the night before but was out before I woken up. She was supposed to get in yesterday afternoon but her plane to Montreal was unable to land so she was delayed in Toronto for 5 hours so had gotten in late that night. Finally, all the housemates are together again! 

For the rest of today, I did laundry, made a grocery list and did an aerobic dance workout video in the living room with Jocelyn. Watch out Lennoxville because we've got some new moves for next weekend! I talked to my dad, did some homework and am now heading off to bed to rest up for practicum in the morning! I am beyond excited to see all of my students tomorrow and I hope that they are excited to see me! Also, I have two classes tomorrow afternoon and then knitting club starts up again tomorrow night. It is going to be a jam packed day and week, with a full week of classes, duty on Thursday night (another 4am night) and then Winterfest this upcoming weekend! LIfe at BU is picking right back up again and I can't wait for all the adventures I am sure to have this semester! 

Have a wonderful week everyone! 

All my love, Erica xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Happy New Year from Bishop's!

Hello everyone and Happy 2014! I hope your new year has been off to a wonderful start and that you enjoyed the last few days of break before we are all back to business tomorrow. I personally will be going to bed early tonight to gear up for an early morning and to catch up on the sleep I didn't get on the bus last night.  It was a bittersweet end to the break for me: I am happy to be back in Lennoxville but was sad to leave my family and friends back in Ancaster, especially as I felt like I blinked and the break was over! However, I cannot stay on break forever as I have a teaching degree to pursue so here I am back in Lennoxville gearing up for my fourth semester of university! 

My last week of break was as action-packed as the first two. When I woke up on Tuesday, it was hard to believe that it was the last day of 2013! Honestly, where did the year go? It felt like just yesterday I was in Waterloo with Jocelyn ringing in the New Year! To celebrate the last day of the year, I went to the last spin class of 2013 at GoodLife. I had to get there 20 minutes early just to get a bike (apparently the rest of Ancaster wanted to celebrate the same way as me). I then went home to shower and pack my bag for Toronto as I was going to spend the night with Elizabeth at her apartment downtown. I ran a few errands, made plans with Elizabeth and then went to work at 2pm. The store was fairly busy until 5pm and then was pretty much dead until close, except for some party-throwers who needed some last minute champagne glasses. I did get a surprise visit from my dad though but he didn't buy anything. Good thing I don't work off commission or I would have had to push the sale a little harder. 

Also while I was at work, I got a text from my 12-year old brother asking me if I needed anything at the LCBO. I believe the exact phrasing of his text was "Erks are you going to a BYOB party? Need anything from LCBO?" I definitely did not know the term BYOB at his age as the only parties I went to were PCP (pop, chip, parents). I did put in an order though and then my mom took me to the train station to catch my train to Toronto. There were a lot of party-goers on the train, though luckily none were too out of hand. I met Elizabeth at Union station and then we made our way back to her place to get ready to go out for the night. 

Our original plan was to go out to a club and Elizabeth had picked one earlier that day. We took the subway to Koreatown, which is where the club was and after momentarily getting lost, found the club and got in line. This was at about 9:45. After waiting for about 20 minutes in the freezing cold, an employee from the club came out and said that there was almost no chance we would get into the club before midnight, which was disappointing to hear. We decided to walk the street and see if we could find any other parties, but were unsuccessful in two neighbourhood so ended up back at Elizabeth's watching the Times Square party on TV. I was slightly disappointed as I had really wanted to go out, but I was happy that I was still spending New Years with one of my best friends. But then, while Elizabeth was changing into her pyjamas, Nathan Phillips Square (in downtown Toronto) showed up on TV and there was a huge party going on there so we made the spontaneous decision to go down there and join the party. We put on 8 more layers of clothing and got back on the subway. 

That was the best decision we made all night!! We got to the square at about 11:20pm and spent 20 minutes maneuvering around in the crowd to get as close to the stage as we could. We ended up sandwiched beside a group of random guys who seemed friendly enough. One of them looked at me and asked if I wanted to have a better view. I assumed that he was going to let me stand in front of him so I said yes but then he just picked me up and lifted me above the crowd. I can't complain as it was a great view! The guy and his friends took turns hoisting Elizabeth and me up into the air, which was so silly but so much fun. This went on until midnight, at which there was a huge fireworks display. We said goodbye to our new friends and were going to head home but then spotted the Gorilla Cheese truck (well Elizabeth did - all I could see were people's backs). As I am the #1 fan of GC, we ordered and split a Lumberjack sandwich as our first meal of 2014. After being refuelled, we went back towards to stage to join the dance party and stayed until around 1am when the DJ retired for the night. We then made our way back to Elizabeth's apartment and fell asleep watching Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve. 

I spent all of Wednesday in Toronto with Elizabeth. She took me around the neighbourhood she lives in and it was cool to see how different her living area is from mine in Ancaster. We then went down to Nathan Phillips Square again but this time we rented skates and went skating. Never in a million years did I think that I would rent skates and wear them!!! The first pair I got had a blade that was falling off, so I got a new pair and we then skated for an hour and half. Once we were sufficiently frozen, we headed to the Eaton Centre for lunch and shopping. I owe an apology to Elizabeth as I dragged her all around the Eaton Centre trying to decide what I wanted to eat. After lunch, we had a successful shopping day and validated our purchases by saying that we wouldn't have access to any of the stores we were shopping at while at school. We then headed back to Elizabeth's so I could collect my things and get on the train home. I would like to extend a huge thank you to Elizabeth for a wonderful last day of 2013 and even better first day of 2014!

Nathan Phillips Square!

Photo taken by man inside Gorilla Cheese truck!

Thursday I went to my dad's Rotary meeting in the morning. The speaker was the daughter of a Rotarian and she talked about the work she has done all over the world. She has worked in the US, Vietnam and for Free the Children, so it was cool to learn about what she has done so far in life. Following that, I again went to spin class at the gym and then began organizing all of my presents and belongings to take back to school. I had a pretty relaxing afternoon, which was much needed and that night my mom and I went to see Saving Mr. Banks. It was suchhh a good movie. If you have not seen the commercial, it is about the author of Mary Poppins and the process that her and Walt Disney went through to make her book into the Disney movie. I highly recommend that everyone go see it. 

Friday I had an early morning physio appointment, at which my therapist gave me permission to keep building up my running - YAY! I went to the gym and then to the mall with my mom. My mom and I both had some Christmas presents to exchange and we wanted to spend one last day together before I headed back to school. That night I had my last shift at Bowring and I worked until close with my manager. My mom came in to make the last purchase of the night and I got to ring her through on the cash register! My first and only time doing cash. It was sad to leave Bowring because I really like all of the staff there but my manager offered me my job back for next year, so I can always go back, which is nice. But much like the chefs on MasterChef it was time for me to hang up my apron. 

Saturday was my last day at home :( Darryl (my mom's boyfriend) and I went to spin class at the gym (I'm sensing an addiction to spinning on my part) and then I went out to Cora's with my friends Elena and Andrea. Elena and I broke tradition by going twice but I am now only 1 meal away from my free meal at Cora's! I then spent the entire afternoon packing my suitcase and it was a struggle!! Especially since I had a spice rack to squeeze into my suitcase! However I was able to get majority of my belongings into my bags and was 2 lbs under the weight limit. I then went to the gym with my dad for one last workout at Goodlife before going over to his house for dinner with Lauren, Terri and Trevor. We had steak and salmon - a perfect last meal at home. We all then went to Jamie's hockey game in Milton, which they tied 3-3 and then my mom and I drove to Toronto so that I could catch the midnight bus to Montreal. Unfortunately the bus was PACKED so I ended up with a seatmate who was a bit of a seat hog so I did not get much sleep. 

I got into Montreal just after 7am and then got on the 8am bus to Sherbrooke. I saw my friend Matt on the bus who had just flown in from BC and been up for 24 hours. Much like the last boy I met on the bus, Matt had been planning to sleep but ended up talking to me for the ride. I guess I just have that effect on people. It was nice to see a fellow BU face on the bus and then was even nicer to share a cab to Lennoxville. However, when I was dropped off at my house I could not get up on the lawn and into the house as there was a giant ice/snow wall in front of my house. I put in a half hour shovelling effort but still did not achieve very much so getting into and out of my house right now is a bit risky. 

I spent the afternoon putting all of my stuff away and then watched a movie while taking a nap. I went down to campus at 5pm to go the RA dinner as my new bosses wanted me to be there for the training. I felt very out of place at the dinner as all of the RAs were reuniting and catching up but hopefully things will be better tomorrow when the real training starts. I better pay attention since my first night on duty is this Saturday (kind of unfortunate as I wanted to go out with my friends). Wish me luck as I do my best to keep the Mackinnon residents in line! 

The spice rack in its new home beside the drinking games calendar!

In other news, tonight is my first night alone in the house and I am really looking forward to my friends coming back tomorrow and later in the week so that I am not so lonely. Looking ahead to this week, I have training tomorrow and a little bit on Tuesday, a free day on Wednesday and then classes start up on Thursday. A lot of people are taking the rest of this week off but I would hate to miss the first day of classes. And then Saturday I will be up until 3:30 on duty in Mackinnon! I'll also have to get back into lesson planning as my practicum starts up again next Monday! And this Monday is the Bachelor! The busy life of Erica Zucker is picking up again and I will be doing my best to keep up with myself! Wish me luck!

Good luck back at school and work this week! Keep those New Year's Resolutions (I am thinking about making mine to twirl my hair less and to run a half marathon - we will see what happens)! 

All my love, Erica xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo