In the Mind of Mike

This year for spring break my friends and I somehow managed to get our act together and plan a trip. We went on a week long Carnival cruise out of Baltimore and it was by far the best vacation ever. The trip started with a long drive from Saint Mikes to Baltimore. Since ten of us went we split up into two cars, one for the guys and one for the girls. The ride went by quickly though since I made an eight hour playlist so there was always good songs playing. We stayed in a hotel overnight and the next morning we made our easy to the port.  When we were walking onto the boat it finally hit us. We were actually on a vacation with ten friends and we were going to Florida and the Bahamas! The boat was awesome and there was always something to do. Since it was spring break there was an interesting mix of college students and couples. Every day they delivered a list of events to us and we tried to make as many of the fun ones as we could. There was trivia, dance parties, stand up comedia...

This past weekend ShredMC, our ski and snowboard club sponsored a trip to  Jay Peak . The best part is that it included a free ski pass, water park ticket and transportation. Thats well over a $100 value which is pretty awesome since I really like skiing Jay and wanted to try out the water park. Since it was such a good deal signing up was competitive. We had to sign up at 7:45am in the student center. I got there at 7:40 and got the third to last spot. Since the demand was so high then ended up getting another bus so that eighty people could go. I went with two sophomore friends Brendan and Greg. Greg hanging with a tree. We all fell but it was like falling on pillows. The conditions were great in the glades. Jay has some really long and nice glades which were a workout but a blast. The other trails were tricky at the top since the visibility was really low in open areas. But we were more than happy staying in the trees. Since the runs were so long and we wanted to go to the...

These last few weekends have been pretty great. I'm so excited that it has been cold and snowy for an extended period of time. There are lots of fun things to do in the winter at Saint Mike's and around Burlington. Last weekend Smugglers Notch was finally 100% open which was awesome since I had not been able to ski the glades at all this season yet. I was able to get off campus by 11:30 on Friday which allowed me to get to Smuggs by 12:30. Even though I got there pretty late I was still able to get in eight solid runs. Being able to go to my class and give a tour in the morning and still get in a decent amount of runs in the afternoon is one of my favorite things. It feels so good to get so much done by 5pm in one day. Sorry for the hand but still a good view from the chairlift! On February 8th I participated in my first Penguin Plunge which is a fundraiser for the Special Olympics. It consists of people running into Lake Champlain which is kind of crazy seeing as it is so...

This semester I only have class Monday, Wednesday and Friday which means most days I'm not in class. I've been keeping busy though with my internship and other activities. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have my internship with  350 Vermont . I'm the tar sands free intern so I work in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont to organize resistance to the possible pipeline reversal. My role consists of calling and emailing volunteers, updating the website, making presentations and getting to know the Northeast Kingdom. I've really been enjoying it so far. I'm never in the office and we are always going to new places which I really enjoy. View from the chairlift with Stowe in the background Then of course there are no classes on the weekends so I tend to go do something outside on Saturdays then keep Sundays free for relaxing and doing homework. I've gone skiing twice so far this semester which isn't too bad seeing how busy I've been. I also went snow shoeing a few ...

The MOVE  program has been one of the most important parts of my time at Saint Mike's. I've had the privilege to go on an extended service trip every year and each trip has been a great experience. I did environmental work in Texas, worked with Habitat for Humanity and kids in Immokalee, had a life changing experience in the Dominican Republic and just got back from a week of working in a middle school in Buffalo. Trip to Niagara Falls  This year I applied to go on a trip like everyone else but was actual selected to be a trip leader since they always need to pull up a couple of people since there are more trips than there are extended service committee members. I was a little nervous at first since leading a group of ten people for a week seemed a little overwhelming but as soon as I met with my group I knew it would go well. I had an amazing group and we all became really close over the course of the week. First day of school! We worked at the  NativityMiguel...