I can’t wait for Thanksgiving!!! It’s less than a week away and I am ready to eat a bunch of food and just relax with my family. I just have to get through two days of finals and then I will be able to forget about classes for a few weeks and enjoy my time at home. Hopefully I’ll make it through those last two days…

This past week was Week 10 which means the last week of classes. Everyone on campus has been scrambling to get the last paper turned in and the last project finished so whenever there’s a chance to forget about classes for awhile, people jump all over it! Tonight, the South Side RA staff is putting on an event for the students living on the South Side of campus: a Buffalo Wild Wings night! At 10pm, I’ll be going down to the Ward Multipurpose Room for free wings and music. It’ll definitely be a nice break from studying and a great snack so I’m definitely looking forward to it. Other residence halls have been putting on different events for their residents this past week; last night the Res/Rec Center had a Coffee Night. There’s also been a lot going on around campus during the day to help students prepare for finals and relax. In the video blog today, you’ll see a singer the CUAB brought to campus. Kailin Garrity came to the White Activities Center today during our community hours and performed for the students as they ate their lunches and relaxed. It was pretty cool and she was a great performer.

Also on this week’s video blog, I talked with two students who have been advertising the different events on campus for this upcoming D-Term. You don’t have to be taking classes during the break to stay on campus and many students actually choose to stay on campus just to hang out with their friends. There are many different fun events taking place on campus during this time so the students that stay always have a lot of fun. This D-Term I’ll be spending most of my time back home with my family and working in St. Charles but I’ll probably come and hang out with my friends a few nights since I’m not too far from campus.

To hear more about the different D-Term events planned for this year as well as a song by Kailin Garrity, check out this week’s video blog!

Since this will be my last video blog before the holiday season, the song of the week is a Christmas song. As well as being a huge Disney fan, I also LOVE Christmas music. The song of the week for our last blog is actually my mom’s favorite; “Carol of the Bells” by David Foster. I hope you’ve enjoyed watching the video blogs this term because I’ve definitely enjoyed making them. Alright, I need to get back to studying! I’ll write one more blog next week after I finish my finals so have a great weekend everyone!

It’s the end of Week 9… that means there are only 3 more Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes and 2 more Tuesday/Thursday classes. That’s only 3.5 hours left of each Monday/Wednesday/Friday class and only 4 more hours left of each Tuesday/Thursday class. I have four Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes and one Tuesday/Thursday class so that’s only 18 hours of class plus finals left until D-Term!! Not that I’m counting or anything…

Week 9 is usually one of the slower weeks of the term because you just want to be classes but that wasn’t the case for me this week. Yes, I did find it harder to motivate myself to do my work instead of hanging out with friends or just relaxing but the week actually went by pretty quickly. Monday afternoon was our last AMA meeting for the term. We’ve had a very successful year so far with AMA and we’ve already made a lot of progress on our big event of the year, Etiquette Night. Last year if you remember I attended Etiquette Night but this year since I’m President of AMA I get to run it with the AMA Exec Board. We’ll have Etiquette Night on a Thursday night in Winter Term this year and hopefully it’ll be just as successful, if not more so, than last year. If you’ve never heard of Etiquette Night before, it’s basically what it sounds like. Students that buy tickets have the opportunity to eat a five-course meal at an upscale restaurant and learn proper eating etiquette from a professional so if they ever have an interview or a business dinner, they will be prepared for how you should act to come off as professional. A lot of the details for this year’s Etiquette Night are still being finalized but we’ve made a lot of progress so far this term which I am very happy about.

For this week’s video blog, I spoke with two students at North Central involved in many international and language programs with our school. Not only do we have a strong study abroad program but we also have a very strong international program on campus. These two students will talk a little about their experiences with the program so far in the college career.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it but I am a HUGE Disney fan. Many people probably would classify it as weird but I absolutely love everything that has to do with Disney. I especially love the music from Disney and I usually listen to it to put me in a good mood during a stressful time. That’s why for this week, the song featured on my blog is the “Splash Mountain Medley” from the “Where the Magic Lives” Walt Disney album. It always makes me happy so as the term beings to end, it’s been keeping me motivated. I hope you enjoy it and have a great weekend everyone!!

I am so happy that tomorrow is Friday!!! Week 8 has been unbelievably crazy and I know weeks 9 and 10 will be just as bad but at least I have this weekend to just relax and get ready to start studying for finals. All of my final projects are starting to come together and my professors are all talking about what we’re going to do our last few days of class. It seems crazy to me that we’re already almost done with the term but that’s how it is with trimesters; things just tend to fly by!!

I have to admit, as I try to think of all the things I’ve done this week, my mind kind of draws a blank. I’ve been so focused on my work that it seems like I haven’t had time to do much else. On Monday, however, I had a really great Japanese class. We had a special guest speaker come in and talk to us about the opportunity to work in Japan with a program called JET, which stands for the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. It was really interesting to hear about the different opportunities that I now have since I decided to study Japanese. I really love learning the language and I think it will really benefit me in the future. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be able to travel there!

Working in the Admissions Office, I give many tours to prospective students and one of the most common questions I get is “What is there to do on the weekends?” There are so many different opportunities at North Central that it would take forever for me to talk about all of them. So, for this week’s video blog, I focused on a few of the things that are happening on campus this weekend. I plan on going to see the theater department performing “Cats” this weekend but there are so many other things going on. I hope you enjoy this week’s video blog!!

In the blog this week you will hear the song “Hot Air Balloon” by Owl City. This band has recently become popular for their song “Fireflies” but I think this song is even better. Sorry the blog is so short this week but I’ve just had so much work to get done. It’s time for me to start studying for my Spanish exam tomorrow so have a great weekend everyone!!

I can’t believe it’s already the end of week 7!! Where did all of this time go? It seems like my classes have just started but at the same time, Welcome Week seems like it was such a long time ago. It’s such a weird feeling right now. The weeks just seem to fly by.

This past week everyone on campus seemed to be focusing on recovering from all the Homecoming activities. We beat Wheaton and won the Homecoming game on Saturday so everyone was excited that we got to keep the Brass Bell for yet another year. Our Homecoming Concert was a great success again this year. In this week’s video blog, you’ll see some performances by two different choirs as well as the whole music department singing and playing the Alma Mater. On Sunday, I was able to see Love Song. It was a great show with a fantastic cast. We have so many talented people in sports, music, theater, and many other departments around campus so this weekend definitely showcased the different abilities of NCC in a great way.

In the video blog this week, I also had the opportunity to talk with a student involved in Anti-Hate Week. Each year, North Central dedicates a week towards awareness of the different types of discrimination on our campus. Some of the events include tearing down the Wall of Hate and the Tunnel of Oppression. It’s a great week and I feel that many students are able to learn a lot from the different activities.

Check out this week’s video blog here to see Anti-Hate Week and the Homecoming Concert!

Tonight some of the Orientation Leader girls got together and had a small reunion while we went shopping. I have made so many great friends from being an Orientation Leader. I’m really happy I was able to have that opportunity. It was nice for a few of us to just get together and relax after a few crazy weeks of school. Of course it was also great to be able to buy some new great clothes!!!!

For my song of the week, I chose a less popular one by the Motion City Soundtrack. “Fell in Love Without You” is a great song and so much fun to listen to – I hope you all enjoy it in this week’s video blog. Have a very safe and happy Halloween everyone!!!

It’s that time of year again; the fall weather is beautiful, the trees are turning beautiful shades of red and yellow, and everyone’s college spirit is at a high. It can only mean one thing: Homecoming Week is here! Between all the classes and exams, everyone on campus was trying to have some fun and just enjoy the week as we prepare for our Homecoming Game against Wheaton and the dance. There’s just so much going on but it’s all so exciting!!

On Monday, the Homecoming Court was announced. I was really happy because my RA from last year, Danielle, was nominated. We’ll find out on Friday night during the Pep Rally who the King and Queen will be. Tuesday evening was a success with the Party in the Plaza. For this event, different clubs all had the option of making a table and having games and prizes. In this week’s video blog, you’ll see Carolynn Englund, the President of the club Circle K, talking about what other activities the clubs were able to get involved in to show their school spirit.

Check out this week’s video blog here to see the different Homecoming events!

I’m personally very excited for this Friday night. Each year, the music department holds a Homecoming Concert with all the large music groups participating. I’m really looking forward to the concert this year because we’ll be able to hear the Cardinal Chorus. The Cardinal Chorus is the newest choir on campus and it’s for the incoming first year students. This is the first time they will be performing so I’m excited to hear them. The Women’s Chorale will be singing at this concert as well. My favorite part of the whole thing, however, is when everyone comes on stage at the same time and plays or sings the Alma Mater together. Hopefully I’ll have that next week for the video blog.

On Sunday, some Orientation Leaders and I are going to support our friend, Angie, as she performs in the play. Love Song will be performed in Meiley-Swallow Hall this upcoming weekend. It’s being directed by a guest director on campus. I haven’t been to a play on campus in awhile so I’m really excited to see all the talented people at North Central performing on stage again. Also featured in this week’s blog is Angie, talking about Love Song and her experience with performing at North Central.

Well, it was a very exciting week and it should be an even more exciting weekend! Come out and support North Central in their many different Homecoming Activities if you are in the area. To get everyone in spirit of dancing at the Homecoming Dance this Saturday, the song you’ll here in the blog is “Down” by Jay Sean featuring Lil’ Wayne. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Week 5 is coming to a close and I have to admit, I’m so relieved!!!! This week just flew by; I can’t believe that it’s the weekend already. Between classes and work outside of class, it was crazy.

For my video blog this week, I decided to tape a little bit of my dorm room as well as talk to some people in the Admissions Office. I absolutely love working in Admissions. In my opinion, it’s one of the best jobs on campus. I always feel so happy when I’m going to work because everyone’s in such a good mood and they’re all glad to see you there. Some days people will bring in treats to share with everyone and it’s really nice to just talk with the staff that works there. Helping a prospective student begin their college search, whether it’s giving them a tour or calling them to see how they’re doing, is one of the best parts of the job. I’ve met a lot of great students so far that I probably never would’ve met because we are all so involved in our different activities. I’ve only worked there five works and it’s already been an amazing experience.

Check out my video blog here to see my dorm and the Admissions Office!

Next week I’m really excited for the Homecoming Week activities! We’ve been voting all week for Homecoming Court and next week, we’ll vote for the King and Queen. Homecoming Week was so much fun last year so I’m looking forward to this year too. I’ll be busy getting ready for our Homecoming Concert with the Women’s Chorale and also participating in the different events happening throughout campus. It should be a great week!

I decided that since I was doing a video blog this week that I would incorporate my song of the week in it. So, when you check out the video post, you’ll hear a little bit of “Hey, Soul Sister” by Train this week. I hope you enjoy it!! Have a great weekend everyone!

Week five is supposed to be the week of midterms because, obviously, it’s the exact middle of our ten week term. So why is it that three out of my four teachers all decide to give exams this week?! I have to admit that it’s nice to have all of my big test out of the way for a few weeks but it certainly was stressful studying for them all at once. But at least that means this weekend I’ll be able to relax and have fun before Marketing Week begins next Monday!

Things are moving quickly in the world of the Women’s Chorale as well. Our first concert for fall term is the Friday night of Homecoming Week which is Week 6 this year. That means we only have about three rehearsals left until it’s the week of the performance. For my video blog this week, I taped one of our rehearsals so you can see us preparing for our upcoming concerts. This is a portion of one of our songs called “Sanctus.”  You can see it on my YouTube channel.

Next Tuesday night, my macroeconomics class is going to see a speaker give a presentation at the Naperville Public Library. Cindy Ivanac-Lillig is an economist from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and will be discussing the U.S. economy. This presentation will take the place of our Wednesday morning class. I’m really actually excited to go hear the speaker because it’ll be interesting to see how the things I’m learning in a class actually happen in the real world. After all the lectures you sometimes forget the importance of the different topics so I’m hoping this will increase my understanding of macroeconomics. I think it’s really cool that our professor is offering this sort of experience to us because it just shows that there is much more you can learn outside of the classroom.

Hopefully I’ll have more videos for you next week as I learn how to use the camera more and how to upload them to the blog. Maybe I’ll be able to get some videos of our Marketing Week events and hopefully I’ll get my dorm back in order after all the studying I did this week to show where I live. We’ll see how it goes!!! If anyone else is a fan of Imogen Heap, you need to listen to the new song by Jason Derulo called “Whatcha Say.” You’ll immediately recognize the song and fall in love with it!!! Have a great week everyone – hopefully we don’t get the snow they’re predicting on Sunday!

There’s just something about rainy, cold weather that makes you not want to do anything… But at least it’s finally fall! I absolutely love October and I feel that the campus is at its prettiest during this time of year. The leaves are starting to change, it’s starting to get a little cooler, football season is here, and the campus seems more alive.

This past week I’ve been busy getting things going for the year for AMA. I have the honor of being Co-President of the club with Jackie Privett and will be President this spring. During Week 5, AMA is hosting Marketing Week. Marketing Week is going to be a week with different AMA-sponsored events each day such as a fundraiser night at Buffalo Wild Wings, a Bags Tournament, community service projects, and the Business Panel of Professionals. The BPP is an event we host each term where we bring in business professionals to talk with students about either their jobs, how to get good internships, and other work-related topics. This BPP will focus on Merill-Lynch workers and the finance industry. Students that come to the BPP will get an idea of what to do when preparing for an interview and what it means to work in the finance industry. It’s going to take a lot of work to put this week together but there are a lot of great members in AMA this year so I think it’s going to be a success!

I don’t remember if I mentioned it or not in the past but this year I am also an editor for the Illinois State Bar Association newsletter called In the Alternative that North Central puts together. We were able to send out our first issue to the ISBA this past Sunday and have already begun working on the second. For this newsletter, I worked with another editor and wrote a piece about International Arbitration. The newsletter as a whole focuses on ADR, or Alternative Dispute Resolution, so our article talked about the international side of this topic. Professor Cavenagh is our supervisor and I have to say that although the year just started, I can already tell working on this is going to be one of the highlights! This is such a unique opportunity and I’m lucky to have it.

Next week, I’m going to start doing a video blog as well. The Marketing Department at North Central has recently purchased some video cameras that I get to use to show you a little more closely just what life at NCC is like. Watch out for my next post and hopefully I’ll be able to figure out how to work the video…!! If you get a chance, try listening to Train’s new song “Hey, Soul Sister.” It’s put me in a great mood all week so hopefully you enjoy it! Happy October everyone!

I can’t believe it’s only the end of Week 2. It feels like I’ve been in class forever and that summer was months ago.

This term, I’m taking four classes and Women’s Chorale. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I have Macroeconomics, Japanese, Spanish, and choir. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Accounting. So far things seem to be going pretty good but this term will certainly be a challenge! This is the first time I’m taking Japanese so it’s going to be tough to figure out at first. We’ve learned how to write the Hiragana alphabet, say a few things, and put some words together. It’s actually really fun writing out the symbols and everything! I was really intimidated going into my first Japanese class but now I really enjoy it. I never thought I would learn Japanese but I’m really glad I decided to take the risk and start it this year. College is the time to try new things so this will certainly be an adventure!

I’m also working in the Admissions Office for the first time this term. I’m an Area Coordinator for Mandy Musson and a Tour Guide. Basically I give tours to prospective students coming to campus and help out the Counselors around the office. I have met a lot of awesome people and I’ve only been working there two weeks! All the Admissions Counselors are a lot of fun and the other student workers are great. It’s really cool to see the other side of the application process for students looking at colleges. Being an Orientation Leader, I was able to help first-year students transition into being in college. Now that I have the opportunity to work in the Admissions Office, I get to go one step further and be a part of the college search experience with the prospective students.

Well, since last week’s post was so long, this will be a shorter one. I’ve got to get started on studying for my first Japanese vocabulary quiz. Wish me luck!

This summer, The Lovehammers came out with a new CD called Heavy Crown. If you’re looking for a new band to listen to, check out this CD and listen to the song “That’s Life.” Have a great weekend everyone!

Here are a few more pictures from the Women’s Chorale European Tour. Enjoy!

The signs advertising our concert in Salzburg

Drinking Hot Chocolate at the Mozart Cafe in Salzburg

In Vienna by the Johann Strauss statue

Where did summer go?! It seems like I was just packing up my dorm in Rall and now I’m already moved in to Ward and starting classes. I had all these plans to write about my Europe Tour with the Women’s Chorale and Summer Orientation but somehow time got away from me. Even though it went by quickly, summer 2009 was absolutely amazing!

Standing in the Louvre by the Inverted Pyramid

The Women’s Chorale European Tour was an unbelievable experience. We started off the trip in Paris. There are no words to describe what it was like to sing in places as great as Notre Dame and La Madeleine. The architecture was enough to distract us all but the second we began singing, the acoustics just blew you away. This picture is of the altar at La Madeleine. It was our background while we were singing at our first concert – it was all we could do not to turn around and stare!! While we were in Paris, we got to sightsee at famous places such as the Louvre and the Musee de l’Orangerie where Monet’s Water Lilies is on display.

Monet’s Water Lilies

After Paris, we got on an overnight train headed for Munich, Germany. There were six girls in my cabin that was big enough probably for only four! We were like sardines packed in there with our suitcases and everything. It was kind of crazy!! Once we figured out the puzzle of how to fit all six of us plus our six suitcases and six carry-ons, no one was really able to move that easily so we all went to bed.

Inside the 6-Person Cabin

The next city on our tour was Salzburg, Austria, where the Sound of Music was filmed! Salzburg turned out to be my absolute favorite city of the trip. It was small and had winding paths that took you all through the downtown area. The tiny shops were adorable and the cafes had the best chocolates ever. We went to the top of the fortress in the city and were able to see a panoramic view of the city. It was so much fun to see the different places the movie was filmed. The food was also the best in Salzburg in my opinion – the Austrians and Germans have a lot of great completely different from the French!

The View of Salzburg

Our tour ended in Vienna, Austria. Unfortunately, it rained almost the whole time we were in Vienna but the city was still beautiful. It was so much bigger than Salzburg was so it was neat to see the two sides of Austria. The highlight of Vienna, however, was having dinner at the house of Vienna’s Cultural Ambassador and acclaimed opera singer Dr. Jutta Unkart-Siefert. Dr. Jutta was such a welcoming host – she cooked the meal for our choir herself! It was delicious!! It turned out to be the perfect end of an amazing tour.

Dr. Jutta & Me After Dinner

I also worked with the Office of Orientation as an Orientation Leader for Summer Sessions and Welcome Week this year. The theme of the week was “Welcome Aboard!” and I couldn’t have had a better experience!! I met so many great people that were Orientation Leaders as well as first year students. It was a crazy week but we had fun doing activities like Casino Night, having a Drive-In movie, Torch Night, and Late Night Intramurals. I was so sad when the week ended and realized classes were starting. I can’t wait to do Orientation next year!!

All the Orientation Leaders at our Formal Dinner

Wow, I realize that was a super long post so I’ll start taking about this school year next week. The song that kept all the OLs going during the long days of Orientation was “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. I’m sure you’ve all heard it already but I thought it’d be a great song to start out an awesome year!

Wlecome Aboard: 2009