So I’m halfway through my Junior year of college (although I wish I was a Freshman again), and I have had a quarter-life crisis. Unfortunately I have been really unmotivated in class lately and I have realized why. Currently I’m an accounting major with a minor in finance. The reason why I chose accounting going into college was because I took a few courses in high school and did extraordinarily well so I figured that would be a good field to major in. After my first few accounting classes last year, I was still really excited but this year after sitting through half a semester of two more accounting classes, I began to think maybe accounting isn’t for me. After going to a few interviews for accounting internships, I started to seriously think of a change of major. This was a huge deal to me since I still want to graduate on time, but at the same time want to be doing something that makes me happy. After thinking about this for a while, I decided that I need to do something that works with people. Friends, family and co-workers have always told me I have great interpersonal skills and my personality would be wasted sitting behind a desk everyday crunching numbers. I never really thought much about it until now. I love speaking to students and being part of something that has an effect on students’ lives. This made me really think about education. I never really thought about teaching because I knew their salaries were never comparable to an accountants, but after deeper thought, I realized I rather be happy with my job and get paid less, then dread going to work and hate life, even if it meant I would make more every year. The only problem with becoming a teacher is that I’m currently enrolled in the business school and if I were to switch majors now, I would be on track to graduate a year late. I could take an alternate route in getting accredited to become a teacher in a public school, but that would also take a long time and I would still be stuck with a bachelor’s degree in business. This made me think of a few other options.
Being a Trustee Ambassador, I began to think about college recruiting and being a counselor. The good thing about being a college counselor is that I could be one with a business degree. Furthermore, I could get my Master’s in higher education and/or college admission counseling. I definitely want to hold a Master’s degree to help further my career, and I could definitely see me working in an admissions office for a while. This also made me think a little further in that I love working for Suffolk now, so hopefully someday there will be an open admission position that I could apply for. If I ever got the chance to work for Suffolk, I would definitely take it right away. But for now my plan is this:
- Graduate from Suffolk University with a bachelor’s degree in Management.
(I’m switching to a management major because it’s the best chance of me having the highest GPA possible, which will be crucial in applying to grad school)
-Find an open admissions position in a college/university in the Boston area
-Attend Graduate school for my Master’s in Education
-Eventually work for Suffolk University
You’re probably thinking that I’m crazy and you’re totally correct, to a point. Being happy in life is something that I value and everyone should too. Working for an accounting firm day in and day out was not going to make me happy, even though I was good at it when I tried. But clearly I haven’t been motivated lately to try and my grades have shown that. I think I’m doing the right thing now and I’m really excited.
Advice to prospective students/incoming Freshman:
-Don’t feel like you have to choose a major right away, definitely pick a major that you know you want to be a part of
-Test out different fields of study you might be interested in
-Don’t always think if you know what you want to do, you’re all set, it may not end up that way
-Ask as many questions as possible about possible majors
-Do what makes you happy, don’t let others tell you what to do
This has definitely been the most philosophical, indepth blog I’ve ever written.
-CG
So Halloween is coming up and I was deciding what to be for Halloween and I was switching between being William Shatner as Captain Kirk, using the traditional star trek shirt and a pillow to make have a gut like Shatner. I also want to be more original and simply but a box around my waist and be a jack in the box! We shall see!
I just signed up for Advising for my last semester here! Ahhhhh. Can’t handle it.
Food and tour time with Delia 
My aunt got married this weekend in Brewster on the Cape. It was a small wedding– just immediate family were invited. My parents, brother, two aunts and cousin all came up from Maryland for the weekend. And they all stayed in our apartment. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but manageable. I went down to the Cape a day early with the happy couple to help decorate the house for the reception. It was actually my first trip ever to the Cape. It may have just been Brewster, but I was surprised at how much it was not like a beach town but more like suburban New England.
The wedding was at Paine’s Creek beach on Sunday morning. We were so blessed with beautiful weather. It was windy which made it a bit chilly, but for late October on the Cape it was considerably warm and beautifully sunny. I was designated as the official photographer of the wedding since it was so small they didn’t want to hire one. I used my old-fashioned 35 mm Nikon. These are a few of the shots that turned out really well.
The dogs were all invited to the wedding because it was on the beach. It did mean some chaos of barking, whining, and general dogs on the beach issues, but I think they enjoyed themselves Below are pictures of me with my youngest cousin Zac. He is young enough to be my nephew so I’m never really sure of how to refer to him. My uncle has taken to calling me his “Caunt” combining cousin and aunt, and of course pronouncing it the true Maryland way [Can't].
The other picture is all of the Smith cousins. On the left is my brother and on the right is my cousin, Gage. The funniest part of the picture is that they are both years younger, I’m wearing heels, and yet they are towering over me! I remember when people would tell me when I was a kid that my brother would be bigger than me one day. I never believed that was ever going to be possible. But a few years ago I had to start referring to him as my “younger brother” because people would laugh when I called him my “little brother.”
My aunt and uncle that I live with made the cake. Isn’t it incredible?! The cake itself was butter, butter and more butter. Delicious! Then they used homemade butter cream frosting and fondant and somehow got the flower to look like a gorgeous extension. My aunt is so sweet, she saved the extra frosting for me so I’ve been having a spoonful here and there the past few days. I love weddings!
Registration for classes is coming up very soon and planning has always been a stressful process because there were so many classes to choose from. Now that I will be planning for the Spring semester of my junior year, my classes are much more focused and less of them are requirements so that is a huge plus.
I am trying to figure out if it will be a bad idea to take ISOM 310, FIN 310 and ISOM 201 at the same time. Many complain about ISOM 310 and ISOM 201 being hard and the books being ridiculously over priced.
While planning my schedule, I saw that I will be able to graduate on time with no problem and might even have a few extra spots for free electives. Also I really want to go to China for a summer session and that will count for an additional 3 credits.
And finally I started contemplating of going to graduate school right after I graduate. I would probably stay at Suffolk and get my Global MBA.
I can’t believe it’s the end of October already; Friday is Halloween! How crazy is that?
I decided to change my blog so it’s more festive The only problem is when I change the layout, I have to re-add all the extra stuff on my page (twitter link, ambassador blogs, what I’m excited about; it’s kind of a pain but changing my layout is totally worth it).
Most of my friends and other Ambassadors have been running around and talking about how busy they are with papers, exams and projects but for some reason I am incredibly calm. My midterms weren’t piled up into 1 week but instead they were spread out over 3 weeks so I had 1 per week. Granted I have my fair share of homework but I can’t help feeling pleased with how calm my October has been.
I’m being a pretty lame college kid for Halloween this year because I don’t have anything planned. My mom and stepdad are coming up for the day on Friday to visit and Adam will be spending the weekend so we’ll probably watch some Halloween movies in my fall decorated apartment. I guess I’m just not that big into Halloween (a huge disappointment to my mother); it was great when I was a kid to dress up and go trick or treating and I went out Freshman and Sophomore years. Last year my mom had just gotten a puppy so I spent Halloween at home puppy sitting and handing out candy to trick or treaters so this year I feel like being lazy…I’m much more of a Christmas person.
I’ll be heading off to my night class in about 20 minutes…here’s hoping we get out a little early so I can get all my homework done…I would like it to be Friday please, thanks!
The seasons are definitely changing here in Boston. I was driving in the suburbs with my roommate the other day and we were noticing how all the leaves were changing. I remember when my homework was to bring in different color leaves to glue to a piece of paper. I would give anything to have homework like that again. Living in downtown Boston sometimes makes you forget about fall because there just aren’t enough trees around. I love fall, but it definitely makes me frustrated because I know winter is right around the corner.
So golf season has ended, it was a decent season. Unfortunately I had to miss my Conference Championship due to an admissions event, however playing at the cape was really fun this year. We had a great team at the cape, and even though the weather was really bad, we still had a lot of fun.
I have been extremely busy with school and work that I barely have time to breathe. My weekends have been packed with golf, work, and friends. Since turning 21, my bank account has been struggling big time. I’m beginning to think I need to pick up another job. My friend Nicole just started working at Banana Republic and told me they’re still hiring so I might try for a job there. The nice thing is that you get 50% off anything you buy at Banana Republic or the Gap.
I finally traded in my BlackBerry for an iPhone this weekend. My roommate and I have been thinking about getting one for a while and this weekend we finally did it. We both left Verizon at the same time and joined AT&T. Not going to lie, for the money, the iPhone is the way to go. It’s actually the same amount for a BlackBerry plan at Verizon than for an iPhone plan at AT&T. My roommate and I decided to get a family plan with AT&T (we said we were cousins) which made it cheaper for us each month. Since I got my iPhone on Sunday, I have not been able to put it down at all. I’m truely addicted to it already.
Celtics opening night tonight at 7 against the Cavs!
-CG
So I have an interview for an internship on Friday and I got a call from a craigslist job I applied to to set up an interview for a PR internship So far so good!
Now I am planning my classes for the spring. If I get an internship, it will be for class credit so I will only have to take 3 other classes. Im thinking of taking mostly night classes, which will probably be awful, having 3 hours of class straight, especially if one of them has to be bio 
The good thing about it will be having tuesday, thursday, and friday completely free, and also the days of mon and wed free. This will allow me to work in the days. Its just going to be tough getting through the night classes…
Ill write about the interviews later!
Wish me luck!
Hay
Today was the first day after the last day of mid-term exams, WHAT A RELIEF!
Generally speaking the mid-terms are fine but it is just the atmosphere that comes along with it that is stressful. Thinking of it now, I believe I did pretty well. I have gotten a few grade back and I am proud to say that nothing has been below an A so far (Fingers Crossed). It is a good feeling to see that hard work pays off. The weather in Madrid is not getting any colder, which is quite nice. We still get that warm fuzzy sun for at least a couple of hours a day. I just started getting the hang of my weekly routine. Be it work , activities, studying or simply having fun, everything has somehow found its spot in my week and is working out great. I get most of my things accomplished before hand or just in the nick of time, either way it works. The second half of the semester has begun and so far it seems to be going absolutely great. Soon a Halloween party will be hosted by the SUMC student council and that is something to look forward to, along with every adventurous weekend here in Madrid. Even though the routine is during the week, every weekend is a novel of its own. The coming weekend is always different than the one before and I love it. I make it a point now to always do something for the first time on the weekend, that is a tradition I hope I can carry on for a long time.
So my parent’s surprised me with the fact that we’re going to Vegas for Thanksgiving along with my aunt, uncle and cousin! They all insisted on not wanting to cook this Thanksgiving so Las Vegas was our best option to avoid this. We’re leaving Tuesday night before Thanksgiving and returning Sunday, so it’s a relatively short trip but totally worth it since it’s my mom’s and my first time to Vegas, and it helps that I’m over 21, otherwise all the restrictions would be a bummer.
Thursday was the first night in a long time all of my girlfriends got together and went out at night. We met up after I got out of work and went into faneuil hall. There were a group of 10 of us that all lived on the same floor 1st semester of sophomore year, before we all went abroad our seperate ways. Most of us now live in apartments, in the North End, West End, Beacon Hill, Comm ave… one commutes from home, and one is an Resident Assistant. We are all still close, although we do not see eachother every single day like we used to, we still have those nights where we can all go out togehter and it is just like old times…
I also died my hair, as you can see. Another life lesson, don’t dye your hair from a box. Especially when the box says darkest brown. It will often come out black.
So this has absolutely nothing to do with school but, as with any other kid my age, we usually all experience the lovely growth of wisdom teeth. I’ve had mine for a couple years and my bottom two have been half covered by my gums which has launched my dentist telling me I should have them removed despite having enough room for them and that they’re coming in perfectly straight.
I woke up yesterday to my bottom left wisdom tooth pushing its way past my gums and it hurts. So I’m just complaining about it. Hopefully it will be all grown in tomorrow because I don’t really appreciate this constant throbbing. Boo for wisdom teeth.
On the other hand, with my wisdom tooth pushing through, my dentist can lay off me about getting them out.
It’s almost the end of October and this is the week for midterms, academic advising, and lots of project deadlines. I cannot believe that I’ve been in school for two months already. It seems like I just came back last week. Time flies when you’re busy!
My sixth class, Management 200: Leadership and Social Responsibility ended on Friday. It was a one credit intensive that only met three times during the semester. The purpose of the course was to come up with a solution for a huge consulting project problem. It was a lot of work in a very short period of time. It feels like such a relief to have it finished! Not having to worry about that additional class has taken me from being absolutely overwhelmed to having a completely manageable workload. I had a total of four midterms this week. Two down and only two more to go! I’ve been telling myself since the begininng of the semester that if I can get through this week, it will be a miracle. And good news is, I’m halfway through the week, halfway through the semester and I still here! The rest of the semster should be a piece of cake
But no worries, I am still finding time to have a social life admist all this school work. Last weekend some of my friends from Maryland came up to visit. We went to Salem and did all sorts of Halloween activities. One of my aunts lives in Salem so I’m generally familiar with layout when walking around. I still managed to get us lost on our way from the Salem Common to the oldest candy store in the United States and the House of Seven Gables. Lost, shmost (is that how you would spell it? I’m not sure it’s kinda more of a phonetic expression than a written one)– anyway, it just added to my friends’ experience of seeing historic Salem! We did a candlelit walking tour about ghosts, drank apple cider, got our palms read and did all the other fun things you do in Salem in October.
I’ve never had any sort of witchcraft reading done before, so getting my palm read was a first. Obviously I’m not a real believer in all of that stuff, but it was really interesting what the witch said to me. She told me that I have great influence over people when I speak (even if I don’t know what I’m talking about), I have really high intellectual capabilities, and that I will be doing a lot of travelling in my future career. All of these things could be applied to anyone, but what was interesting was that she said I would go into Marketing. I didn’t tell her that I’m a Marketing major. Kind of weird… perhaps even spooky! The funniest thing she told me was that I’m “restless as Hell.” I found this so amusing because it’s absolutely true. I love change and new adventures whenever possible. Again, I’m not convinced about palm reading and witchcraft, but it was fun nevertheless.
Next weekend my aunt is getting married on the Cape. I have a whole bunch of family coming into town for it. Should be a little chaotic but really fun. We have a total of ten people staying in our apartment with only one bathroom and it is a morning wedding. I’m so excited to see my family and my dog (my parents are bringing him up). I will have to write about the madness that ensues next week!
Last week Jack and I participated in a College Week Live video chat. College Week Live is like a virtual college fair where students can go online to get information about college, chat with admission counselors, and watch streamed video of college students speaking about their school. Jack and I were those students speaking about Suffolk!
It was really fun but kind of weird. Jack did all of the technical work of setting up the webcam while I decorated the wall to make it seem spirited since I’m completely clueless when it comes to technology. The video chat was half-an-hour, a combination of us talking about our experience at Suffolk and answering student questions. It was kind of strange not only being on camera and knowing that prospective students I couldn’t see were watching me, but also strange watching myself talk on the computer screen for 30 minutes. Needless to say, I don’t think I’ll ever become an actress.
It was really fun though! My favorite part of the whole experience was that I heard an ad on the radio the day before announcing College Week Live. The ad said, “All kinds of colleges will be there, like Suffolk University…” It was exciting because basically the radio was advertising me and Jack! Fun little moment of fame
The month of October has been incredibly crazy for me. The first weekend I went to a wedding for my boyfriend’s sister so it was filled with sight-seeing in Boston since some of his immediate family flew up from Texas. The wedding and reception was held at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton. If you ever get the chance to go out there, I suggest you check out the museum; there were some really interesting exhibits (including one about shoes which, being female, I loved and a really neat structured space exhibit that hung from the ceiling that I have below) and admission is free on Wednesday nights from 5-9 pm.
Here’s a picture of The Great Room where the reception was; they constantly change the art in the room so you never know what you’re going to see and a picture of me and Adam on the patio where the wedding was…it’s completely surrounded by water. We clean up pretty well huh?
The following weekend was my roommate’s birthday so we hit the town (or city I should say) and celebrated her turning 22! The night successfully ended with ordering Domino’s delivery at 1 am; I really love being a college student sometimes. I had Office Hours and an Information Session where I gave tours for a couple hours and my dad came up to visit for two nights, so you know he treated me really well and fed me tons of amazing Italian food!
This past weekend I went home to CT, worked in the hotel and hung out with my family and Adam. My mom made a mini Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and sent some food back up to Boston with me which I have already consumed for lunch! Thanks momma.
On a really exciting note, my boyfriend is pitching for a scout for the New York Mets on Thursday. I’ve gone to a couple of his pitching practices and as a female I couldn’t tell you the difference between half the pitches but I was impressed. If I have the money, I’m going to watch him pitch Thursday because it’s a big day for him and his family is in Texas so no one is there to see him.
Here’s hoping for no rain or snow on Thursday!
