Back to School 2015

Hello everyone on this rainy Monday afternoon! I have now officially been back in school for one week, but truthfully, it already feels like so much longer (not necessarily a bad thing). My day planner is filling up, with classes, meetings, assignments and extracurriculars but such is the life of a university student. I can’t wait to see and do all that fourth year has in store!

 

Back to school haircut! 

So to back up to the start of the month, I spent Labour Day weekend at my cottage where I saw all of my paternal extended family, minus my two aunts. After being back in the suburbs for a week, I was already missing camp and the outdoors a lot, so it was really nice to get a bit more time in cottage country before heading back to school. We canoed, we swam, I read 3 books and, with all credit to Jamie and Connor, we had a campfire going every day and night. We also celebrated my cousin Katherine’s birthday - she turned 13^th on September 1^st. All in all, it was a great end to a great summer.

On Sunday morning, I met my mom and her boyfriend Ron in Kingston to drive out to school. For the most part, it was an easy drive, except for some major traffic along the Autoroute 10. Luckily, I was able to keep us all entertained by reading Ellen Degeneres’ book Seriously…I’m Kidding aloud.  If you have not read it and need a good laugh, I highly recommend it. We stopped for lunch at Tim Hortons where the barista asked me if I was “excited to start university for the first time”…  Glad to know my age-reducing moisturizer is really taking effect.

We arrived in Lennoxville around 3pm and after a quick unload, did a trip to the grocery store and a tour of campus. Thank you to the Animal House boys who welcomed us back as we passed the afternoon lawn party!!  We then went out to my favourite restaurant in Sherbrooke, Fondue Folie, before my mom and Ron left to drive home.

Luckily, Monday was a holiday so I had a day to get my life in order before starting class. I used the day to catch up on what I had missed the first week, catch up with my housemates, see Vicki’s new apartment and clean my room from top to bottom (except the ceiling, which I can’t reach even with my stool). By dinnertime Monday night, the entire population of 27 William-Paige was back home, I met my new roommate/former subletter, Jen, and everything was right in the world again.

This semester, I have 5 classes, 4 of which are education classes required for my major. I have Teaching the Creative Arts, Educational Psychology, Social Justice and Anti-Discrimination Education, Classroom Management and Psychology of the Exceptional Child. So far, they are all quite interesting, especially my psych course, for which we are working with students at the Collegium Centre for Exceptional Learners to put on a carnival/open house in November. We had our first meeting with the students today and we start planning our carnival next week!

This year, I am the co-president of the Golden Key Honours Society and we had our first meeting last Tuesday. As the co-president, I get my own key to the office, so come visit me in the SUB, basement level, room 38! Our first meeting went well and I am excited to work with the executive team this year to provide some great opportunities for our chapter members! (Watch your emails for invites…who’s ready for another potluck?)

On Wednesday, I had a meeting with one of the recruiters to discuss the blog channel for this coming year. Now, I had thought I was just going to be told to start up the blog channel again, however, it turned into something much bigger. I was offered the role of Social Media Intern. For this role, the intern works with the communications director to manage the university’s social media accounts, i.e. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, in addition to the blog channel.  I happily accepted the role and have my first meeting with my new boss tomorrow. While I am incredibly nervous for the responsibility that comes with my new job, I cannot wait to get started!

On Friday, two of my friends in education held the first meeting for a new club being formed in the education department, the Education Committee. In my first year, we had a similar club but it was not taken over and thus was not active the past two years. My friend and fellow student, Kate, alongside our education senator Kirsten are working to bring this club back to life. There was a pretty good turnout at the first meeting, with about 20 people in attendance, all who seem very enthusiastic about getting the club off the ground. The club will be responsible for planning social events and fundraisers for the department and will also work with the education senator and reps to plan workshops and guest speakers. Since we are one of the bigger departments in the school, I think that this will be a valuable addition to the school of education.

Friday night, my roommates and I hiked out to one of the local churches for the first student hospitality supper of the semester. Following that, our friends Gaby, Sara, Ellen and Arianne held an outdoor movie night at their house to celebrate Sara and Arianne’s belated birthdays. It was a fantastic night! They set up a projector and screen in the backyard and had a popcorn stand and smores bar for all to enjoy. We watched Space Jam and Cabin in the Woods, neither of which I had seen before, with a break for cake in between the two viewings. We also got to meet the newest addition to their family - their kitten, Finn. The weather was great and the company was even better – I could not picture a better way to spend a Friday night!

Saturday, we invited our friends over for brunch to celebrate Elizabeth’s 21^st birthday! There were cinnamon buns, breakfast strata, cookies, fruit, French toast, lattes, and, every basic White girl’s brunch staple, mimosas! In order to get a group picture, we went over to meet our new neighbours across the street and offered them leftovers (and the chance to talk to fourth year girls) in exchange for taking our picture. They happily accepted! We had planned on going to the opening football game but brunch ran longer than planned so we spent the afternoon at home instead. Thanks to everyone who came out and brunched with us! And happy birthday Elizabeth!!

That night, Hannah, Jen, Elizabeth and I went to the XLIGHT RUN SHERBROOKE, a 5km, glow-in-the-dark run on campus. It was for both community members and students. All runners received a glowing shirt, a pair of glowstick eyeglasses and a flashing baton to carry en route. The event started  with a dance party in the sports centre parking lot, during which we all got glow in the dark face paint and temporary tattoos. The race route was so cool – it was lit with glow sticks and there were light-up decorations all the way around, with glowing cups of water and glowing seats at the halfway point. At the end, everyone received a free drink and the parking lot dance party started up again! It was a very cool race!

Sunday was a homework day and today is a rainy day, which is good in the fact that it is encouraging me to stay inside and work, or pretend to work, at least. Here’s hoping for some sunny days to come! Despite the weather, the week, and the school year, are off to a great start – in fact, I added one more thing to my schedule today when I signed up to be a mentor for a first year education student! I’ll have to brainstorm some good advice! So now I’m off to pack my dinner and head to my night classs, with a quick coffee stop along the way!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

All my love,

Erica xoxoxoxoxxo