In the Mind of Mike

So it may be near the end of March but this month has been the best by far for skiing this season. Thanks to the $30 season pass to Smugglers Notch that Saint Mike's gives us I've been getting out as often as possible. Before spring break I went on a weekday and the conditions were perfect and there were no lines. Yesterday the conditions were really good too. We got a lot of snow this past week so there was plenty of snow in the glades. Smuggs has three different mountains We are pretty lucky to be able to go skiing so often. The fact that the mountain is 45 minutes away and that we don't have to pay each time makes it really easy to just go for half days. Yesterday we didn't leave campus until 10:30 but we were still able to get in at least eight runs. The week before spring break we got in about six runs and I was still able to get back to campus well before my 3:00 class. After this weekend I feel that I got in all the skiing I wanted to. Now I'm kind of ...

This past week I got back from one of the best experiences of my life. I along with 11 other Saint Mike's students and staff went down to the Dominican Republic for a service trip. We left at 3:45 on Saturday morning which was a little rough but luckily we were able to sleep on the flights and three hour ride to Ocoa. Buy the time we got to where we were staying for the night it was time for dinner then we went to the park. It was quite an experience. There was music playing and people just hanging out. I've never seen a park so busy but I guess it's the place to be on a Friday and Saturday night. The next morning we woke up, went to church, visited a senior center than made our way to the village we would be staying at for the week. We stayed in the village of Los Corozo which has 75 families and is about an hour outside of the city of Ocoa. The view from the village was great seeing as it is surrounded by mountains. We worked with Adesjo which is an organization that tr...

And just like that we are half way done with the semester. Tomorrow I am leaving for a  MOVE  service trip to the Dominican Republic. We will be there for a week working in a small village to rebuild houses. The group consists of nine students, two staff leaders and one student leader. We have a great group and I'm sure we are going to have a great time. The group has been meeting every week all semester in order to prepare for the trip. We have also been doing a lot of fundraising and were able to raise over $10,000 which we are giving directly to the organizations that we are going to be working with. The village that we are staying at does not have electricity or even running water so I wont be able to give any updates but look for a post once I get back. Have a great week!