Finals Are Here!

Hello Readers!

Finals are here! It has been an exhausting week preparing and taking finals. I was supposed to have a final for my War and Peace in 20th Century Europe class on Tuesday December 10th but that got moved to Tuesday December 17th due to the snowfall we experienced here in New Haven. Today I had my International Relations final. I think I did exceptionally well! Tomorrow I have my Question of God in the Modern World final. It is going to be tough but I believe I can get a decent grade. Monday is going to be, without a doubt, my toughest final I have to take. That is my Classical Political Theory class. It is an all essay final that has five parts to it. I think I am well prepared for it so I should be fine. 

With finals here, it means that it is almost winter break! I am excited to go home for a month and just relax and hang out. I will be working at my job in my town's recreation department. It is a good job that pays well. Soon enough it will be January and the spring semester will be starting! I cannot believe half of my junior year is almost over. It feels like yesterday I was just a freshman.   

I wish everyone a Happy Holiday and a wonderful New Year!

Crunch Time!

Hello Readers!

What a great weekend! This weekend was of course Thanksgiving weekend! Albertus Magnus College closed the residence halls on Wednesday night so all residents had to go home. I drove back to Long Island, NY and spent Thanksgiving with my wonderful family. I went to a Long Island Islander game on Saturday, in which they lost (that's no surprise) but it was a terrific game because it came down to the last few seconds of the game but of course Alex Ovechkin had to score the game winning goal to put the Islanders with another loss. 

I am very excited about the next two weeks of school. This is the last full week of classes and then finals begin. This week I have two papers and one presentation to do. It is time to get it done! I believe I have a final in almost every class so it is going to be a long and difficult week and a half to get through it all. In the end, it will be Christmas time and then I get a long month off from school!   

A Successful Week At Albertus!

Hello Readers!

It has been a great week here at Albertus Magnus College! On Monday November 18th, the "Black Jew Dialogues" were here. These guys were so funny. The two gentleman's names that came to Albertus were Ron and Larry. The overall point of the show was to create awareness about people that have different cultural backgrounds. They performed a variety of skits about different ethnicities and how other people acted towards them because of what their cultural background was. While they were doing this skits, they of course made it extremely funny. When I was watching this, I felt as if I were watching a television show. They were true professionals! I had a great time and I hope everyone else had a great time as well. 

On Friday November 22nd, there was one of my favorite Albertus@Night events, "Deep FRYday." I love this event because of the great food that is there. There were Fried Dough, French Fries, Onion Rings and Fried Oreos, the Fried Oreos being my favorite. It was delicious food and it was extremely fresh. They cooked everything right in front of you! There was also a great turn out by all of the students that were there. 

It is also exciting that next Thursday is Thanksgiving! Albertus students have off Thanksgiving Day all the way until Sunday. On Monday we continue our classes until December when finals happen. I cannot believe that this semester is almost over! 

Happy Sunday!

Hello Readers!

Today is Sunday! This week was an extremely hectic week! I have been busy with being an RA, being a tour guide and also being a work study in the Admissions Office. Yesterday November 9th, Albertus Magnus College hosted an Open House for undergraduate prospective students. It was a great turn out! Many students came with their families and went out on tour. I spoke with many students and they told me they were excited about applying to Albertus. They were very excited about their senior year but most of the students I spoke to just want to be in college already. The Admissions staff led by Director of Admissions, Nilvio Perez, did a fantastic job orchestrating the event. Mr. Perez and the admissions team worked very hard to make this a successful event! 

Today was a big football day to be a New Yorker, the New York Football Giants finally won a game! It was too close of a game because Eli Manning and the Giants should be doing better than they have been doing so far this year, especially against the Oakland Raiders. The New York Jets had a bye week but I am looking forward to their game against the Buffalo Bills next Sunday. Hopefully Geno Smith can keep doing what he is doing and help lead the Jets into the playoffs. 

Albertus' Open House!

Hello Readers!

It is almost the weekend! This has been another crazy week. Since I work as a work study in the Admissions office, I have been helping the counselors and staff put together the materials needed for Open House, which is taking place on Saturday November 9, 2013. Open House is for all prospective students that are considering Albertus Magnus College as a college to attend after high school. It is always great to be able to talk to all of these prospective students about what they would be interested in studying here at Albertus. Also, since I am a tour guide, I will also be extremely busy giving tours and showing people their way around our beautiful campus. The Student Alumni Association will also have an informational table discussing the various activities it takes part in. 

I am extremely close to obtaining an internship, which is very exciting! I have been working with Melissa DeLucia who is the Director of Experiential Learning and the Center of Teaching and Learning Excellence, to find me an internship somewhere in the New Haven area. This has been a great experience for me for two reasons. One way this has been a great experience for me is because I had the opportunity to create a resume. It was important for me to create a resume for other future jobs that I apply to. This was a great starting point to do one. Another reason why this is a great experience is because I am getting very excited about graduating and going to law school to become a lawyer. The internship process has made me realize that my time at Albertus is passing by quickly! 

A Great Weekend!

Hello Everyone!

I had such a busy weekend! My beautiful girlfriend came to visit me here at school. On Friday we went to the movies at North Haven Cinemas and saw Captain Phillips. It was a sensational film. It was a fantastic movie that was based on a true story. It made me proud to be an American! We also went to Celestino's Restaurant and Pizza for dinner. This restaurant is owned by one of my greatest and best friends, Arber Mehmedi who is a student here at Albertus. Arber is the head waiter there. He also helps cook, which is really cool because all of the food he makes is delicious! My girlfriend and I both ordered Chicken Francaise. It was out of this world! I highly recommend going therefor either lunch or dinner. 

On Saturday, November 2nd, A group of RA's hosted an Albertus@Night event in the pub. The event was a series of obstacles. The first, second and third place winners each won a cash prize. Some of the obstacles were that you had to do push-ups, sit-ups, throw a wiffle ball into a bucket, and you had to pick 3 pairs of matching cards off of a table. It was very fun to see the contestants participate in this event. I had a lot of fun observing and helping set up and clean up.

Who Wants to Be A Tour Guide?

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It is Wednesday! The week is half way over! It is been a very busy week. Between writing papers, doing tours and RA programs, it has been crazy. On Monday October 28th, I hosted my educational function for my floor. It was "Albertus Jeopardy." It was a very fun and intense game. I based the questions off of the history and faculty of Albertus. In the end, Kyle Soules won the cash prize. I hope every contestant that participated had a great time. 

Today, October 30th, the lead tour guides, Sharinna Luna and myself hosted an informational table in Bree Common for perspective tour guides. We were handing out a lot of applications! It seems that a lot of students want to become a tour guide, which is awesome! Being a tour guide is very fun and a great experience. Interacting with perspective students is a great way to share what it is like here at Albertus. If anyone is interested in becoming a tour guide, please let Sharinna or myself know. Also, you can grab an application if you visit the Office of Admission and ask for one! As you can see below, Sharinna and I had a good time meeting with future tour guides!

 

It's Almost Friday!

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Tomorrow is Friday! It has been a crazy week! On Monday October 21st, I went to see the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor speak at Southern Connecticut State University. She is an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. This was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. It was amazing to see her speak about her rough childhood. She also talked about what it was like living in the South Bronx, New York and dealing with only being raised by just her mother. It is amazing to think that Justice Sotomayor went from the South Bronx, to Princeton University for her undergraduate studies then to Yale Law School for her Juris Doctor degree.

This week I also hosted a floor function for the second floor of Dominican Hall. We colored pumpkins and had pizza and soda. Many of my residents came and had an awesome time. All of them colored their pumpkins with unique styles. We talked about what classes we were going to choose for the spring semester and what we like to do for fun.

Fun Friday!

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This past Friday, October 11, 2013 was the Albertus@Night event hosted by the RAs. The RAs that were responsible for organizing this event were Carlo Santiago, Sarah Zeine, Alex LaRosa and myself. Since Halloween is quickly approaching, our theme was the "Slenderman Experience." This was based on an actual game where you would have to find eight manuscripts about the Slenderman, who is a paranormal creature. It was very exciting to see all of the groups we had participating. As the groups were going around campus, they had to avoid the Slenderman at all costs. If they were caught by the Slenderman, they would have to surrender their manuscripts to him but then they would have to continue to find the manuscripts that they did not find. As a coordinator of the event, I was walking around campus to check up on everything that was going on. While I was walking around, I was able to hear all the screams of teams that were frightened by the Slenderman. That was extremely funny. As the teams made their way back into the Pub, they were welcomed by cookies, brownies and milk. I would like to give a special thanks for all of the teams that participated and made this event such a success.

This is a picture of our two "Slenderman." As you can see, they were quite creepy!

Wednesday!

Hello Readers!

Thank goodness it is Wednesday! The week is half done! This week feels like it has been moving by so slowly. I have done a lot of things so far this week. I had a test today on Plato's Republic for my Classical Political Theory class with Dr. Imholt. It was tough because it was all essay but I feel like I did a good job on it. After studying in the library for over two hours, I hope I get an A. This class is difficult because of all of the old political philosophers and their theories of how they thought things should be run. It is a great class because you really get to see the foundation of the United States government and the theories behind it. 

Today was a great day because I went to Ray and Mike's to grab a sandwich. Ray and Mike's is located right off Whitney Avenue in Hamden. They have a lot of great sandwiches to get. The sandwiches range from roll, sub and giant. The "Macdaddy" and "Irresistible" are their best-known sandwiches. My sandwich of choice is the Chicken Parm sub, which is extremely good. I highly recommend going to Ray and Mike's anytime you need a great sandwich.      

It's Friday!

Hello Everyone!

It is finally Friday! It has been yet another exhausting and work filled week. Even though it has been a long week, I have had a great Monday-Friday. Major League Baseball playoffs began! It is such a great experience to watch these games especially when you are at school hanging out with all of your friends. The wild card games were very intense. The Pittsburgh Pirates won an awesome game against the Cincinnati Reds to make it to the post season for the first time since 1992.......it has been 21 years! The team that I am rooting for in the playoffs is the Saint Louis Cardinals. I am rooting for the Cardinals for two reasons; 1. I am a huge fan of Carlos Beltran because he used to be a great player on the New York Mets. 2. I love Yadier Molina because he is the best defensive catcher baseball has seen in a very long time.

Another exciting thing I did this week was attend a film festival that was hosted here at Albertus Magnus College. There were two films that were shown. One was about a massacre that took place in Argentina, which killed over 35,000 people. The second film was about another massacre that took place in El Salvador. This massacre took the lives of over 75,000 people. This film festival really made me realize that the United States needs to pay attention to these issues happening in other countries.

Typical Week of Classes

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This week has been crazy as usual! I have had so much going on. Between being on RA duty, going to class, writing three papers and work study, this week has been so crazy. The three paper I wrote were for my three favorite classes. One of those classes, War and Peace in the 20th Century with Professor Jorgensen had to be about how war can or cannot be enjoyable. I highly suggest that all of you readers take any class you can with Professor Jorgensen. He his so funny! Another other class I had a paper in was in Classical Political Theory with Dr. Imholt. This class is super interesting because we are in the middle of talking about some of the great political theorists such as Plato and Aristotle. The final paper I had to do was for Quest of God In The Modern World. This class is taught by Dr. Bourgeois. This class is extremely interesting because it forces you to open your mind and think "outside the box." The two other classes I am taking are International Relations with Professor Edwards and Sports Marketing and Promotion with Professor Wajnowski. I have a great class schedule this year. I am very excited to the rest of this year and I am also looking forward to picking my class schedule for next semester as well.    

Week and Weekend Activities!

This week has been such a crazy week so far! I had my floor function for the second floor of Dominican Hall on Tuesday September 18th. It was an awesome turn out. A lot of people from my floor came out and had pizza and soda. It was nice to see that everyone made an effort to attend for something that I worked very hard for. I hope that the future events I host will be just as well attended as the last two were! Today, September 18th, I gave a tour to a prospective student. This was very exciting because I was able to show a high school student what it was like to walk around a college campus. The student was very pleased with the tour! 

       This weekend I am hoping to go apple picking in Branford with my girlfriend Stephanie. I am very excited because I have never been apple picking before. Apple picking is a great fall activity to do outside. It is also good that it is not too far of a drive from school, so it is nice to go just for the late afternoon.

       I hope you all have a great rest of the week and a fantastic weekend! 

Boston Sunday

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This weekend was a busy one! I went home to visit my family on Long Island and then I went to the Students in Admissions Forum which took place in Boston. It was a fantastic experience. The tour guides learned a lot of new techniques about how to do a tour and how to do an "A+" tour. After the forum ended, we went to Quincy Market which is located in the heart of Boston. We had a filling dinner at Cheers and talked about what we had taken away from the days activities and how much we enjoyed the great experience. I had never been to Quincy Market before so it was nice to walk around and visit all of the nice stores such as Coach and American Eagle. We also saw a lot of other restaurants and buildings that were very old and historical. I am looking forward to all of the upcoming tours I have scheduled to use the many techniques I learned about today.

Below is a picture of the sign of the restaurant Cheers. 

This is a picture of the main building in Quincy Market. 

Busy Busy Week!

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all have had a great week! My week has been extremely busy. It was full of work study, getting prepared for my program with RA Alex LaRosa and then hosting the program. We planned a Barbeque in the backyard of Nilan Hall. It was an extremely successful event. We had 20 residents show up ready to eat! I cooked burgers and hot dogs and there were chips for everyone to snack on. I was very excited to be able to cook a delicious meal for the residents of Nilan Hall and Dominican Hall. Next week, I am hosting another event for the second floor in Dominican Hall! It should be very fun and informative.

This Sunday I am going to attend the Admissions Forum with the Tour Guides which is being held in Boston, MA. It should be very fun to be able to learn about the different techniques colleges around the country use while they give tours to prospective students. Last year I attended the same forum but it was held at Brown University in Rhode Island. I had a great experience last year so I expect it will be even a better experience this year. 

Football Sunday!

Hello Everyone,

   This week was a very busy week! It was nice to settle down and enjoy a relaxing weekend on campus. Today, Sunday September 8th, was the start of Sunday football! It was nice to go down to The Pub with some friends and have some free wings and pizza. It was cool to have a good lunch while watching the games in  The Pub. The most exciting time of this Sunday was watching the Jets game and seeing Geno Smith earn his first win as quarterback. I definitely did not think that would happen. My other New York team, the Giants played the Cowboys. The Giants vs Cowboys matchup is always fun and exciting to watch. This Sunday was a relaxing day to end the crazy week. 

   This week is also going to be a very busy week but it is going to be a fun week! Alex LaRosa and I are having our RA function this Thursday, September 12th. It is going to be a lot of fun to have a program with Alex. We hope a lot of people come out and have fun. I hope everyone has a great week and thank you for reading! 

Back to school, back to school....

Hello everyone!

We are back for another year at Albertus! This has been a very good year for me so far. I arrived at school on August 15th for two weeks of RA training. RA training was very tough but also very fun. I had a great time with Justin Cirisoli who is the Director of Residential Life and the rest of the RAs. I was also a Student Orientation Counselor, commonly referred to as a "SOC". The SOCs were led by Erin Morrell and Kaitlyn Dyleski. They did an awesome job preparing the SOCs and coordinating orientation week. It was a very good experience for me to help prepare and set up the school for the incoming freshman. 

I also have a great class schedule. I have classes Monday-Thursday and I have off on Friday! This was very exciting for me to hear because this will be the first time I have never had class on a Friday. I am very excited to be able to sleep late! I know that this year is going to be a busy school year, but I am ready to get my Junior year moving. It is amazing to think that it has already been two years since I was a freshman. 

I hope all of you have a great year! 

Summer Update!

Hello Everyone!


     Even though I am a little late, I would like to congratulate all of the graduates of the class of 2013 in their achievements at Albertus Magnus College. I wish they encounter success in anything they do in life. It amazes me that when I was a freshman they were juniors and it hit me that I am going to be a junior this coming school year. The thought of the class of 2013 graduating makes me realize my graduation is just around the corner! Everyone, including myself, is going to miss the graduating class.

     This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend. This has to be one of my favorite holidays because it allows all United States residents to recognize and salute the past and current members of the military that have served this great nation. This holiday means a lot of me because members of my family have served in the military. As a big supporter of the armed forces, this holiday is a fantastic way to be able to reflect about what sacrifices these men and women have made throughout the years of our leading country. I hope everyone had a great Memorial day and spent a day having a barbeque and enjoyed being an American.

Summer Time!

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  I hope everyone's summer is going well. I have had a great five days of summer already! Today I went to Bobby's Burger Palace in Garden City, New York. It was delicious! There is also a "BBP" as it is called, at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. I have started working at the recreation department in my town as a summer job. I am also pursuing another summer job at a law firm somewhere on Long Island. It would be a very good experience for me to see what it is like to be a lawyer. With the assistance of the Internship Coordinator Melissa DeLucia, I will be able to gain even more experience which will hopefully put me ahead of the game and give me an idea of what the everyday duties of what a lawyer does on a daily basis.
     So far this summer I have began to think about what my floor theme should be when I am a Resident Assistant. I want to think of themes that will be fun and entertaining for all of the residents on my floor. I know I will be able to choose a great theme so stay tuned and find out when the school year starts!

FINALLY Finished!

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     Finals are finally done! It's summertime! This year had been another great year at Albertus. The Student Alumni Association put on a lot of great events and did a lot of fundraising. I personally did well this year. I made Dean's list and did all of my work. One thing I am going to miss over the summer is all my friends that go to Albertus that I am not going to see that often. I am also going to miss the seniors I've gotten close with such as my fellow former blogger, Dan Kmiechick. I am extremely excited for next year! I can't wait to be a Resident Assistant in Dominican Hall and a Student Orientation Counselor! I am looking forward to meeting all of the incoming freshman that will be attending Albertus next year. Overall, I am very excited for the summer and I am already looking towards next school year.

The Sunshine Sets

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     Welcome to my first blog post! I would like to dedicate this first blog to Dan "Sunshine" Kmiechick." Sunshine's blog has been very popular this past year. I wish to continue his tradition with having the same success. Sunshine served as a captain on the baseball team this past season and is one of my best friends here at Albertus. He finished his collegiate baseball career with an outstanding 18 wins. This is such a great accomplishment for any collegiate baseball player. He is also one of the guys on the team that everyone looked up to. Everyone would talk to Sunshine if something was bothering them or if they just needed to talk to someone. Sunshine's sense of humor, outstanding personality and hard work ethic made him a stand-out student, maintaing a 4.0 GPA all four years of college. He is one of the nicest people I have ever met. He is a terrific all around guy. It is an honor and a pleasure to be able to take his position as a student blogger. I wish Sunshine the best of luck in all of his future endeavors and I know he will be successful in anything he does.