What a Getaway

Just got back from a mini getaway to Conway, New Hampshire and it was so much fun! My friend Haley invited me to stay with her and her family up in New Hampshire and go to Shawnee Peak to go snowboarding. We all had so much fun, it was me, Haley, her sister Alyssa and boyfriend Joel, her parents, and our friend Geralyn. The weather was CRAZY. When I drove up to meet them it was snowing just a little bit, but when we got to the mountain, it turned into a blizzard. At one point we were at the top of the mountain and you couldn't see the bottom! It was so much fun being at the mountain with a group of friends. It made me wish my parents were into winter sports. Here are some pictures from the weekend...

I made Geralyn a mini snowman while we were waiting at the bottom of the mountain. She named him Chip haha.

Haley and I riding the chairlift.

Geralyn, me, and Haley at the bottom of the mountain!

Now that the weekend is over, its back to school. This week I get back my two midterms I took last week so that'll be interesting. I'm excited but also a little nervous. I also have my presentation in Educational Psychology this week which will be good. I'm happy my group is getting our presentation done before spring break.

Speaking of spring break, I'm hoping to make it out to Lake Tahoe and go snowboarding for a while. If not, I'll probably just stay around here and go snowboarding up in New Hampshire and Vermont.

Now its time to do some homework for the week :(

-CG

Weeks Are Just Flying by Here at Suffolk University

I just finished my 6th week of the semester so we're almost halfway done. Two midterms down, one presentation to go and I feel like Spring is getting very close. This past weekend here in Boston the weather was beautiful. It was 50 and it seemed like Spring had finally come. Then the forecast for this week has been miserable. I looked at the weather and for the next TEN days the forecast read, "Snow showers, heavy rain, showers, light rain, snow flurries, light snow, rain, snow, dusting of snow, mist, slush, sleet, freezing rain". I think you get the picture. I was so ready for Spring and everything that goes with it. Shorts, T-shirts, no heavy jackets, frisbee in the greenway, frozen yogurt, roof deck dance parties, you know the usual. BUT the rain has ruined it! I know its only the beginning of March and I'm sure there's going to be a huge storm at some point, but this weekend really got me in the Spring mood.

Suffolk has been putting on some good events for students lately. A few weeks ago we had a trip to Wachusett mountain for $35 for a full day of skiing/snowboarding. This Saturday we have a trip up to Loon, New Hampshire to go to Loon Mountain. The tickets were only $45 and it includes a round trip bus ticket, all day lift ticket, and rentals if needed. A lift ticket at Loon on a Saturday is usually $80 so that's a huge savings right there! We also have been selling Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins tickets lately. Tonight the Celtics play the Cavaliers and we sold tickets for $30. Today we also started selling Bruins-Canadians tickets for $20. This is just a tiny little bit of what you could be doing here on campus. Off campus there is a Black Eyed Peas and LMFAO in Boston on Friday. My roommate's girlfriend is going and she said tickets were really cheap. Another great thing to do here in the city!

My plans for the weekend are to go home tomorrow, probably go to the casino. Saturday I'm going to try and snowboard all day. Not sure where yet, I have a few possibilities. Sunday will definitely be dedicated to doing homework and getting ready for the week.

-CG

Never Back Down

Hello fellow blog readers! I'm running out of titles for my posts so I'm going to start just using things that I have come across recently. I watched the movie Never Back Down starring Cam Gigandet and Sean Faris last night so sure, that's my blog title.

Today I took my first midterm of the semester and it was BRUTAL. I studied by behind off and prepared as much as possible, but when your professor says, "not many students pass my midterms" it was pretty discouraging. There were 44 multiple choice questions and 3 essays that each had about 5 parts to each question. Luckily we were able to pick 2 out of the 3 essays. Everyone in the class had the same mind set going into the class, "this is going to be hard". And yes it was, it was harder than a concrete block in the middle of an iceberg chillin' in Antarctica. Ok maybe that was an exaggeration. I actually think I did well on the essay part, which is good because it was worth twice as much as the multiple choice section.

I have a group lesson plan due next Tuesday for my Educational Psychology class as well as a midterm in my Operations Management class this Wednesday. Things are definitely starting to pick up on the academic side. Spring break anyone?

-CG

It's Midterm Time Already??

I feel like the semester just started and I already have midterms!!! AHHHHH. Next week I have a midterm in my Management Information Systems class which is going to be the hardest exam ever. Its only on four chapters but they're really intense and all on information systems and stuff like that. Not my idea of an interesting topic but oh well, what can you do. This weekend will be spent reading and studying, then some more reading and studying.

This week we've had information sessions and they've gone really well so far. I was able to speak at one on Tuesday and got to answer some intriguing questions. There are still some upcoming events here on campus if anyone missed an information session but wants to visit. We have Saturday tours on February 27, April 17, and April 24. There's a student to student information session on Saturday March 6. During April vacation (20-22) we will have another wave of information sessions. We also have specific NESAD (New England School of Art and Design) information sessions on February 26 and April 23. And of course we have daily tours at 10, 11, 1 and 3.

When I was speaking with students and their families last Monday and Tuesday, it made me think about housing deposits and how many students have actually done that. Many students had been accepted back in December and had yet to deposit. When talking about housing, most of them wanted to live on campus. It's really important to deposit as soon as possible because it will help secure a spot in one of our dormitories. If you're not aware of our housing procedure, we DON"T guarantee housing to any of our students. Unfortunately we have a limited number of spaces to house students and we give it out on a first come, first serve basis. The deposit of $600 is fully refundable until May 1st so don't worry if you may think Suffolk may not be for you. However if its your 1,2,3,4, or even 5 school on your list, but you definitely know you want to live on campus, I strongly suggest in sending in your deposit as soon as possible.

For all you accepted students reading my blog, CONGRATULATIONS!

This is an exciting time for you and you should be proud of yourself! Some helpful hints on choosing the college you'll attend for the next four years:

- Make sure to visit a school more than once, even more than twice. You're always going to get a different view and perspective of the school each time you visit.
- See what the school can offer you, ie (athletics, clubs, majors, on and off campus activities)
- You may think you want a super large school or a microscopic school, but think long and hard about that, because you may end up finding you don't want to be a big fish in a small pond, or just a number in a sea of faces.
- Make sure you're making the decision and not your parents, even though your parents may push a certain school or a certain location, make sure you choose a school on your criteria and not your parents, after all you're the one who's going to be there, not your parents.
- If you have no idea what you want to major in, make sure the school you pick allows you to freely choose classes and experiment in different areas of study. This will allow you to see what you may be interested in and what really turns you off.

These next four years of your life are going to be amazing, no matter where you spend your college career. Don't stress out over trying to make a decision, you'll know when you've made the right one.

-CG

My iPod is on Replay

Ever find a song you just can't stop listening to and legit listen to it a thousand times? That would be me as of right now. With a new week starting, I need a new workout playlist, but really just because I've been listening to the same one since November. I came across the song Break Your Heart by Taio Cruz and I haven't stopped listening to it since I've added it to my iTunes!

The long weekend was nice and definitely refreshing. Snowboarded twice, although the 2nd time was cut short because my friend dislocated his shoulder and me and my roommate had to bring him to the emergency room. My friend TJ turned 21 so I took him to Mohegan Sun. I won $100, unfortunately TJ only won $5 haha. Went out dancing with some friends on Valentines Day. It was a singles night, not going to lie, I'm not a fan of Valentines Day. Now I have a three day week before the weekend!

This week is going to be busy in the office however! We have information sessions and early action information sessions all week from 10:00-5:00 basically. So inbetween classes I'll be running back to the admissions office helping out with tours and speaking. All that good stuff! If you haven't signed up for an information session yet but want to come, do it! If you can't sign up online you're allowed to sign up in person. There will be a student panel of Trustee Ambassadors (me!) as well as representatives from Financial Aid, Residence Life and Undergraduate Admissions. There also will be a campus tour and a mock classroom as well!

Today we had a mini information session which went very well. The director of undergraduate admissions (John Hamel) hosted it and it was great to finally be back in the swing of special events. I love special events because it's almost always a huge turnout and I love being able to answer your questions and help you guys with stuff. I really feel like I'm making a difference and helping you make a better decision on college. Trust me, I remember my college search and it was probably the most stressful two and a half years of my life!

Have a great February vacation for all you high schoolers!

-CG

Class, Gym, Snowboarding (CGS)

In the words of Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, GTL! Ok well not GTL in my case because one I can't stand fake tans, and two doing laundry is tedious, so how about CGS, because that's what my life has been about for the past few months.

I've realized that I'm being a terrible blogger and haven't been blogging as much as I should have. And I've also realized that I keep saying this in all my blogs and never do anything about it. So from now on I'm going to dedicate one day a week to blogging.

CGS. What is it you may ask. Class-Gym-Snowboarding. My version of GTL. Gym-Tanning-Laundry for all you who don't watch the Jersey Shore (shame on you!). My classes have been great, with lots of work. I've been working really hard lately and it's paying off in my classes which is really gratifying. Gym. I've been hitting the gym pretty much everyday for the past few months. Now before you go and make assumptions that I'm trying to be a meathead or trying to show off a hot bod, you're wrong. Well maybe the hot bod part is correct, just kidding! After Thanksgiving this year I realized I definitely needed to get back into shape and I've been working extra hard to do that. Its been paying off and hopefully by summer I'll have that Taylor Lautner body. Uhhhhh its a good thing no one reads my blog. Snowboarding. I have been snowboarding probably more this year then ever. It's great because I have a season pass to a local mountain. My roommate and friend also got one this year so we've been going as much as possible. It's definitely nice to be able to get out of the city and hit the mountain every now and then. It's almost like an escape :)

So in the admissions office things are picking up and its easy to see! We have many events coming up that all you prospective students should take a look at and sign up for! This upcoming Saturday (tomorrow) and Monday we have mini information sessions. These are great events if you want to get some extra information about Suffolk. Then for all you lucky high schoolers, next week is a whole week of mini information sessions during your February break! We have some specially designated Early Action information sessions at specific times that will be geared more for the students who were accepted under our Early Action procedure. These will be great if you haven't visited our campus yet or if you just want to see it again. I always tell students on my tours to look at schools they think they might attend atleast two or three times. You're going to get different impressions of a school each time you visit so the more the better! For those of you who are just SO busy on the weekdays, we have Saturday tours almost every Saturday in the next two months. These involve a campus tour by our ambassadors who are truely amazing :). But if you want the full list of events and activities, log onto Suffolk.edu and click the admissions and financial aid link at the top. Then click undergraduate admissions and click visit Suffolk! Under Embark you can see our whole list of events and times/dates. So what are you waiting for? Go check it out!

If any of you want to ask a question or just want some extra information, don't hesitate to contact our undergraduate admissions office at admission@suffolk.edu or you can even email me at cmgray@suffolk.edu.

Have a great weekend everyone and stay warm!

-CG