In the Mind of Mike

Yesterday was a major holiday here at SMC. It was P-Day which stands for Preparation Day and is a way for the campus to celebrate and relax before the stress of finals. One of the traditions is to make t-shirts with your friends to wear for the day. This year  Lisa , Bri and I made shirts together. I had to sell t-shirts for my business class so we bought those. Then we used splatter paint and spray paint in order to customize them. Making the shirts After what felt like the longest week ever it was finally P-Day Eve which is a special occasion as well. Usually there is a cookout in the 300's field but since it was snowing they moved it inside this year. Yes you read that right, it snowed on Friday! At night there is the annual talent show which is always a blast. Even though it didn't start till 7:00 we went over around 6:00 since it's so popular. The wait went by quickly though since they open the doors early. We even had a giant sing along to Call Me Maybe while we ...

The campus As soon as I started touring colleges, I knew that I wanted to study abroad. This decision took the back burner until the this past August when I started looking into where exactly I want to go. I couldn't care less about historical or artsy stuff which makes Europe unattractive. I knew that I wanted to go somewhere that would be a once in a lifetime thing, somewhere a little wild. After much consideration I narrowed it down to Tanzania or New Zealand. I decided on New Zealand since the programs there offer more free time for me to explore. The study abroad department does a great job of helping you find the perfect program. After my meeting I went back to my room with ten booklets showing different programs. I picked to study at Massey University with  IFSA-Butler . Some hot springs The program offers lots of excursions which are included in the fees. I'm really looking forward to the Adventure Weekend which includes quad biking, yachting, and sand to...

Earth Week is drawing to a close, but it has been a great week! Everyone that I talked to said they enjoyed Earth Fest, the documentary Blue Gold  opened my eyes to many issues and we picked up a ton of trash off campus. Thursday evening we had our keynote speaker Maude Barlow who came to talk about the global water crisis. She is the author of Blue Gold, which the documentary was based on. She is a well known activist and used to be a senior advisor on water for the UN. Maude Barlow has received 11 honorary doctorates and many awards including the 2011 EarthCare Award which is the highest honor from the Sierra Club. In other words, she's a big deal. Her talk contained a lot of information from the documentary but also brought in some interesting stories and new facts. The one that really stood out to me is that if the Great Lakes are drained at the same rate as the average water table is being depleted, the lakes would be bone dry in 80 years. That completely shocked me. I us...

Today there was free Ben & Jerry's on campus for the third time this month. This is getting a little ridiculous but in the best way possible! They are also coming back this Sunday to provide ice cream for a social with high school guidance consolers. I was lucky enough to be invited to join them and give them a tour of campus. Then, on April 28 they will be back on campus giving out even more ice cream for P-Day! Thats five days of free Ben & Jerry's in one month! If you like free ice cream this is definitely the school for you. One of my favorite flavors! Saint Michael's doesn't just give away free ice cream though. They also give away many other kinds of free food. Every Friday and Saturday night the RA's grill up some free food in the freshman quad. It rotates between chicken patties, hot dogs, burgers and chicken breast. They start serving the food at 11 and keep going until it runs out. Most events give out food as well. Founders Society (the ...

Every year Green Up (the environmental club at SMC) puts on Earth Week. The week contains many environmental events including a trash clean up, guest speakers, documentary screenings and a local food night. Earth Fest is the big event that kicks it all off. We hire a band to come perform, provide free food and have various activities. A full list of events I, along with the rest of Green Up have been planning this event for months. I started the hiring process for the band all the way back in January. This past week has been especially busy for us. Last night I went shopping with my friend Lauren for all the food. It took about four hours and cost quite a bit, but seeing everyone enjoy it today was worth it. This year  Mission South  came to perform. They did a great job and everyone seemed to enjoy the music. Most of the food that we provided was local and organic. We had hamburgers and veggie burgers as well as smoothies. People were actually able to make there own sm...

This past week I learned a very important lesson: never bring your skis home! For those of you who don't know, this ski season was not the best. There were only a few trails open at Smugg's  before Christmas break and only two really good snow storms this whole year. Luckily, I was still able to ski 15 times, but was kind of let down by the slow season. I planned on getting in some nice spring skiing, but after going to Smugg's in the rain with Lisa  and Christine I kind of gave up on that. Lisa and I right before the rain Then the week after spring break it was in the 80's up here and I figured it was time to give up. I brought my skis home with me over Easter break. This past Tuesday I woke up to an alert saying that Jay Peak  had gotten a foot of snow over night. A quick check on the snow report showed that they had 44 trails open even though the rest of the ski areas were closed. I was not a happy camper. I even have a season pass there since I got the  tri...

One of the perks of being a Biology major is that we get to take some really interesting classes. Most of the Biology classes have a lab component to them which means that we get to dissect animals, analyze DNA, work outdoors and go on some awesome field trips. Animal Behavior is the best class I have taken so far. We usually get to watch videos of animals in class. These videos are so fascinating that I often share them with my friends. For example, during one of the first classes we got to watch  crows using a vending machine.  It turns out crows are much smarter than I thought. During another class we got to watch some shark videos and find out why sharks tend to not bite humans more than once during an attack. The lab portion of the course is also very interesting and exciting. After learning how to record behavior we got to go on a field trip to the  Montreal Biodome . We observed and studied many animals including monkeys, puffins, and lynx. My group focused on th...

The last major reason that I picked St. Mike's was because of the community. On my tour, the guide kept on mentioning the sense of community. I thought it was a little over exaggerated but once I talked to people who go here I knew it was all true. Since you live on campus for all four years there really is a strong sense of community on campus. Everyone looks out for each other and most people are always friendly. I always feel safe on campus and feel that nothing bad will happen. I even leave my laptop out when I go to get a snack or drink in the library without having to worry about someone taking it. Every morning on my way to class I am always greeted by friendly smiles and hellos from friends and acquaintances. There is even a random acts of kindness club on campus that will sometimes hand out hot chocolate on the way to class. The professors are also part of the community. They always take the time to get to know their students and are sure to say hello and even start up a...

I still have one more post about the major reasons I picked St. Mike's but that will have to wait seeing as today is one of my favorite days of the year. It was free cone day at Ben & Jerry's! All the Ben & Jerry's shops gave out free ice cream from noon to 8:00. This of course is a very popular event so the line was a little long but worth it. The hour long line I actually ended up going two times since I had some extra free time today. I went with my friend and fellow blogger  Lisa  after class. I got Milk and Cookies that time. While we were downtown we found out that the Ben & Jerry's truck was actually at St. Mike's giving out free scoops of the new Greek frozen yogurt. Just one more reason why SMC rocks! Where else does the Ben & Jerry's truck randomly show up on campus with free ice cream? Lisa wanted a picture with the cow  I went with Dana, Angelica, and Danika the second time after dinner and tried out the new Chocolate Nouga...

The third major reason that I came to St. Mike's was the  MOVE  program. It stands for Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts. There are 22 different programs and all of them are student run. They range from walking greyhounds to mentoring children. You can even start up a new program if you want. There is a big bulletin board in Alliot where you can sign up for activities. Most are one time commitments but the mentoring programs require you to participant all year. I lead the Outdoor Volunteer Efforts program ( OVE ). We help clear local trails and work on organic farms. These events are usually only a few hours long which makes them really easy to fit into your weekly schedule. However, there are also opportunities for longer periods of service. Over winter and spring break, Extended Service trips are offered to various sites around the country. You can go to Utah to work with animals, Buffalo to work in the school system, or New Orleans to work with Habitat for Humanity. There ...