Surviving Black Friday Frenzy!

Hey Bloggers!

What a crazy weekend I’ve had, but I’m happy to say I’m done for the week (yay to not having class on Thursday or Friday and always having four day weekends!)  I’m so excited for the weekend because my friends from home are coming to visit.  They picked the perfect weekend to come because on Saturday the Mavericks are playing Missouri Western State in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II football championship.  So far our team has had undefeated season so we’ll all be there to cheer them on this weekend in hopes of continuing their outstanding season!

Being home last week for Thanksgiving was great!  Being back in Wisconsin with friends and family was exactly what I needed.  As much as I love all of the turkey, mashed potatoes, and pie on Thanksgiving, I have to say I was a little more excited for Black Friday shopping.  It has been a tradition of mine to tough out the cold and go shopping extremely early with my friends.  I’m happy to say we survived the crazy shoppers and endless lines.  I scored a ton of great deals and even got ALL of my Christmas shopping done, but I have to say my best find was my new chalk bag.  I’ve been telling all of you about my newest hobby – rock climbing – and it was about time I got my own bag of chalk.  Take a look at the picture of it (I’m pretty excited about it haha)!  I hope you all have a great week. Only a few more weeks until winter break, hang in there everybody!

~Cristen

Cristen's new chalk bag!

Birthday Finals?... Oh No!

Hey Hey!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! My family didn’t really do much, just stuck around the house and did Thanksgiving by ourselves this year.  I did get to hang out with an old friend who I used to live by. We went back to our old houses and got to check them out for the first time in a while. Christmas is already coming up on us so fast, but thankfully I finished all my shopping already!

The atmosphere around campus is becoming more and more stressful seeing that finals week is just around the corner.  Thankfully I just have a few projects to finish up and hand in before I can start studying for my three finals.  Unfortunately, two of them fall on my birthday, which is slightly depressing, but I’ll get over it!  Getting excited to go home and see all my extended family over the holidays! Have a good week!

-Jake

Thanksgiving Cheer!

Hey Everybody!

This past week has been crazy! I got to go home over Thanksgiving for a couple of days and I see my family. I was so excited to see them! We had lots of family time together and we played games and other fun things! It was nice to have a break from school and not focus on work and studying so much. Now that Thanksgiving is over though it is time to get back into the swing of things.

I have several exams and assignments due this week so I have been focusing a lot of time and energy into that. I even have to write a 3 page paper all in Spanish! It’s hard, but fun at the same time! I have also been spending quite a bit of time in the library studying with other students from my classes. I find it important to study in groups because it is nice to hear things from another person’s perspective. Hearing different views often helps me formulate my own ideas and it is more fun to study that way.

I also have some other big news! I was recently elected as the new president of student ambassadors, our volunteer tour guide group. I am so excited! I have so many fun ideas planned for the upcoming year and I cannot wait to put them into action. I also signed my lease for my apartment next year. I am living with a fellow tour guide named Kira. We signed a lease to live in a brand new set of apartments that are currently being built! Stay tuned for future pictures of my crib!

That’s all for now!

-Jeni

Oh Brother! =)

Hollo Bloggers!

I hope everyone enjoyed their long Thanksgiving weekend! I was finally able to go home and have some time to relax with my family. The weekend was extra special because my brother was able to leave Virginia (where he is attending training for the US Marines) and spend time with us from Wednesday to Sunday. Our Thanksgiving dinner was held at my parent's house this year; we only had my dad's side of the family over. Even though it was smaller than past years, it felt great to reconnect with family I had not seen in a while. On Friday I celebrated my 22nd birthday! I did not do anything too exciting but my grandma took me to get a manicure and pedicure, and I went out to dinner and went bowling with my parents, brother, his fiancé and my boyfriend.

On Saturday morning I woke up at 5 a.m. and went deer hunting with my brother and dad, it has been a family tradition so I am glad my brother was back to go with us! Of course, the weekend could not last forever, so on Sunday at 4am, we woke up and drove to the airport to drop off my brother and I drove back to Mankato to finish up homework for the week. I cannot believe the semester is almost over, only two and a half more weeks until winter break!

-Kayla

Kayla and her brother on Thanksgiving

Cruise'n Along!

Hey Everyone- 

Things at MSU are going so great! In the Admissions office we have seen so many people this last month, it’s crazy here!! It’s so good to see other people interested in attending MSU! My classes are going really well, I have been using the library a lot more now because of finals are right around the corner. My horseback riding class just ended last week, so I have one of the six done. I can’t believe that we were jumping horses, it was so much fun.

Now the journey to look for someplace to live next year is a challenge with my schedule but it’s nice to look at different places around Mankato. I got some really good news this past week that I'm going to be going on another cruise over winter break! We will be leaving Minneapolis on the 3rd of January and will be back on the 13th of January. We are going to spend two days in Miami, Florida before the cruise! We are going to be ported in Grand Turk, Dominican Republic, Aruba and the Curacao. I'm so excited!! I have a couple of pictures below from my last cruise in May.

Have a great weekend!    

Nick

Vertical Endeavors Anyone?

Hey Bloggers!
 
I hope you are all having a wonderful week.  I have, but it’s definitely been a busy one as well.  On Monday, some of the other Ambassadors and myself had dinner at Director of Admissions Brian Jones’ house.  The dinner was so great, and we elected our new board members for next semester.  I am proud to say that Jeni Carmody, our current vice president, will be taking my spot as president; she’s going to do an outstanding job!

School has been pretty stress free lately; I haven’t had a test in a while so it’s been nice to have some relaxation time.  I’ve been doing a lot of rock climbing in my off time.  This weekend I am actually driving up to the cities and going climbing at Vertical Endeavors, it’s a climbing gym up in the cities.  I’m getting excited for a short week next week because of Thanksgiving!  I’m so excited to get back to Wisconsin and see my family and friends, and of course to eat all of the AMAZING food!  I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

~Cristen

Thanksgiving is Coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Bloggers!

Hope you are all having a great week, they are going by pretty fast and Thanksgiving is coming up fast! Not only do I get to see family that I don’t get to see very often, but the food is always endless.  I can’t believe it’s only a week and a half away!  Thankfully I’m basically done with tests until finals week, which is a relief.  I do have a research paper to write but that shouldn’t be too bad because the library journal databases are extremely easy to use.  We also have elections for student ambassadors coming up so I’m hoping to get re-elected so I can continue blogging for you all!

My friends and I are starting to look at where we want to live next year, so we are going to see a few different apartment complexes on Friday and hopefully soon after we will be able to sign a lease so we can stop worrying about that! I am also getting a new car in the spring since my sister is turning 16, so I think I am going to start looking for a car pretty soon.  I am much more excited about that than my wallet is. Have a good week!

Jake R.

Tis the Season!

Hey Everyone!

The semester is past the halfway point! That means things are getting hectic and there is a lot to be done. I have lots of projects and assignments coming up so I have been spending quite a bit of time in the library. But November also means it is almost Thanksgiving! I love the holidays because I love to spend time with my family. I hardly ever get to go home anymore so I very rarely see my parents, plus my two oldest brothers live in Wisconsin and South Dakota so I never see them. I cherish my time with family.
Other than assignments and school work I have been taking some time to relax. I love to go out and do different activities in Mankato but sometimes I like to just sit at home and hang out. This past weekend my roommate and I spent time at home watching movies and Skyping with one of our friends that doesn’t live in Mankato. It was nice to take a break from school and just have time to relax. Check the pic of my roomie, Jenny, and I goofing around with her webcam. That’s all for now!
-Jeni

Jeni (right) and her roomate Jenny

Practice Makes Perfect! Kayla's Blog

Hey All!

Not much has changed since I last blogged, just working and going to school as always. In my clinical class for dental hygiene, we have been learning how to use more instruments in preparation for our very first patient in three weeks! I am very nervous, but excited to finally be applying what I have been learning in school for my clinical experience. Aside from school, my parents came to visit me last weekend and we did a little shopping and went out to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. They bought my birthday present a few weeks early, a new North Face Jacket! I have always wanted one and it keeps me nice and warm on the walks from my apartment to class every morning. I am looking forward to this weekend, I get to go home and go deer hunting in Wisconsin with my family and then the week after is Thanksgiving and my BIRTHDAY. It is on Black Friday this year so I will get to go do some more shopping.

That's all for now!

Keeping Busy!

Hello!

We are getting busy at the Admission's Office, we had several Fall Open Houses these past couple of weeks! It’s great to see tons of prospective students touring our University. It's always nice to see people interested in a college that I love! We have about another month or so until the end of the semester, this semester had gone by so fast! My classes are going really well and they are a lot of fun! I really enjoy my major because all the professors are former Law Enforcement Officers and they get to share real life experiences.

We went dog walking last week for Student Ambassadors, we had one dog for 10 of us! Her name was Annie and she was huge, but she didn’t like other dogs or cats. We had so much fun just bonding with the ambassadors that showed up. It was nice to get to know the new ambassadors while being in the group for a while, it is really great to see others that are involved! 

I also worked the Mankato Marathon as medical support. It was so much fun seeing thousands of runners out on the course. I worked at the Finish Line and we only saw 41 patients which is amazing compared to how many runners and not one made it to the ER so good job guys!

Thanks for reading my blog and Have an amazing weekend!

Nick B.

Dia de los Muertos & More!

Hey Bloggers!

I hope you have all been having a great week!  I definitely have, especially because yesterday was Halloween… one of my favorite holidays.  My friends and I decided to dress up as skeletons for Dia de los Muertos, a holiday celebrated to remember the dead in Mexico.  Being a Spanish major I’ve learned a lot about this holiday and when I saw the idea I knew it would be the perfect costume!  The school actually had a haunted house for Halloween as well; it was in the CSU and I heard it was a huge hit!  Unfortunately I had night class so I couldn’t attend.

My classes have been going great.  I just got done with a week full of tests so I’m excited to take a relaxing weekend at home.  Next week I’ll have a lighter workload so I’m hoping to go rock climbing a few times; it’s one of my new favorite hobbies!  I hope you all have a great week!

~Cristen