One Week Until Mississippi!

Yesterday was offically one week until we take off for Meridian, Mississippi. Tomorrow is our last meeting before my group and I head down to the south to work with Habitat for Hummanity. We will be down there for a week, helping to build a home for a family who is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

What has really affected me during our meetings is our discussions about the meaning of privledge. Did you know that if you have a roof over your head you are considered privledged? If you have some of these small basic necessities such as food, shelter, water, and money for transportation, you are far ahead of many people in the world. This has made me reflect upon my own life and how lucky I am that my Dad can afford to send me to school and take care of my sister and I. Although my sister and I both work, we are far more privledged than those who have to pay for their own shelter and food. My Dad has taught my sister and I the responsibility of paying bills and what life will be like once we are on our own, but we know that if were ever really needed anything, our Dad would be there to help us out. Many children do not have the advantage of going to any school they want to, mind you, many students are required to take our loans in order to pay for an education. This is why getting work experience is so important because it teaches you the value of a dollar and what things cost.

Meridian is also an area with a 60% high school graduation rate; this is similar to the Boston Public School system. It will be interesting to see what education is like down there compared to the Boston area. I hope that we will get a chance to visit a school while we are down there and talk to young students about what their education is like. When I reflect upon my elementary, middle school and high school years, I always had the best books, school materials, and activities in my town. Are these kids accessable to these after school activities? Do they have enough books for every student in the classroom?

I will be back two weeks from today to give you all an update as to how my trip went!

Cheers to all

Half way though the week....

Happy Wednesday Everyone

Just to report, my Mom's Surprise 50th
Birthday was a success! I think she had a little bit of an idea that we were planning something because we avoided her all day haha. I had a very hard time keeping a secret haha. The food was great, CAKE WAS AMAZING and the band that performed after was awesome too. Overall we had a great night and she really enjoyed herself and got to see all of her life long friends!

On a personal note, life has been busy these past couple of days; between school work and homework, ambassador work, Mooo Restaurant work and Alternative Spring Break just right around the corner, my days are completely filled! Tonight I have to go home and finish reading and then write a report on it.

I am really looking forward to Spring Break and going down to Mississippi. It is nice to be able to take myself out of my life up here and put myself in somebody else's shoes. One learns that meaning of privilege and how lucky we are to be able to go home to food and shelter every night.

Cheers to all,

CUPCAKE

BECKEE IS MAKING ME WANT
A CUPCAKE RIGHT NOW
.....CHECK IT OUT PEOPLE.

My cute little friend Beckee has made a plan to bake a different cupcake every week for a year! She is up for the challenge and my stomach is ready for taste testing. She is going to blog about her experience baking the cupcake as well as other people's reactions to her creations. This sounds so exciting and mouth watering!

I have always been interested in baking and becoming a pastry chef. I think you can be so creative and experiment with many flavors and combinations of sugars/spices. I grew up in a household where everything was made from scratch. It's something that I cherish because I will be able to share that with my own family someday.

Sometimes we have different passions in our life that we do not pursue as careers. I'm not saying that I will never dip into the pastry industry, but it is definitely an option to keep in mind!

I do not know about you, but talking about dessert has made me hungry!

Cheers to you all,

Little late on the post, but welcome back Second Semester!

So the semester has begun and it is already busy. With two tours a week, I'm finding it hard to find time to blog, but I'll try to keep all you lovely people posted about my life.

Right now I have classes Monday through Thursday and my internship on Fridays. I am interning with the private events manager and Mooo.... Restaurant. It has been a blast so far. We are planning many events for the next few months and I have been learning a lot about networking and multitasking with clients.

Alternative Spring Break is a little more than a month away and we are already having our meetings. It seems like a great group of students, all eager to head down and help out in Mississippi. We had a great discussion yesterday about the difference between socialism and capitalism. It is very hard to debate because I am partial to both sides. Thinking about one of the big social problems in the world, housing, has gotten me thinking how hard it would be for me to not have the basic necessity of a home. I don't know if I could physically drop everything and sacrifice it all. I have been very fortunate for the things that I have and want to help out others who are not as fortunate.

To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.
-- Albert Schweitzer

Cheers to all,

Welcome Back All!

Happy 2010 Everyone! Hope you all had a great winter break and recharged for the next semester.

It was lovely to see all of my ambassador loves yesterday at our first meeting! Can't wait to get back into the coffee dates and entertaining dinner dates.

Skating on frog pond with Emily and seeing the Nutcracker with a bunch of my close friends were a few activities I did to get in the Christmas spirit back in December. I had a wonderful holiday with my family; delicious food and hours of laughter. Also, Santa brought me the new running sneakers I've had my eye on!

Over the break I tried to relax, but for me to sit in my house all day is an impossible task. I took advantage of having extra time and picked up some extra shifts at the restaurant. Also because I live in town mostly all year round, I went home for a couple of weekends in order to catch up with some of my friends who are home for the break. I miss that a lot of my friends are not in the city. I started personal training sessions at the local Ballys Fitness in Downtown Crossing, and I couldn't be more pleased. I feel so much better getting back into the shape I was in high school and working out is such a great stress reliever.

The semester is only at the beginning, I wonder what it is store for us this Spring....

Cheers,

Last week of classes; Finals next week

With the end of the semester a little more than a week away, I think every Suffolk student will agree; it's crunch time! Papers, exams and final projects need to be completed.

On a little side note, I had an interview with Hannah Grove, the CEO of Global Business at State Street Corp this past Monday. I am extremely fortunate for her to take the time out of her busy schedule to meet with me. (I have interned at a magazine, and next semester I will be at the restaurant, but I would really like to see what PR is like in the business world). She introduced me to the Public Relations director of State Street and I will be interviewing with her in January for a summer internship position.

WINTER BALL TOMORROW NIGHT WITH THE AMBASSADORS!
All I want to do is dannceeee.... :)

Cheers

He's making a list and checking it twice .....

Is it just me, or did Thanksgiving break fly by really fast? Can it really be December 2nd already?

Holiday season has officially arrived. I've created a Christmas playlist and it has been on repeat since the day after Thanksgiving :) You can call me a geek, but one of my favorite parts of the holiday season is watching all of the Christmas movies and shows on television. You know what I'm talking about; ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas, Elf, Polar Express, Santa Clause (1,2,3), and Lifetime's Fa La La La Lifetime.

The month of December is filled with so many fun events; tree lighting in Boston Common, Ugly sweater party with the ambassadors, Winter Ball, Urban Nutcracker with the girls, winter break, CHRISTMAS, and New Years Eve!!

But before I can enjoy the winter season, I need to finish some of my final projects, papers and finals for school. Focus Delia Focus!!!

Well I'm heading out to meet some prospective students.

Cheers to all !