I don't wanna work, I just wanna bang on the drum all day.

So now that it's been over a week into winter break, what do you do now? You got all your Christmas shopping and parties over with, your room's probably cleaned up a little, and you might have gotten some things done on that To-Do list you've had since the summer. So... what now?

Winter break is actually an excellent time to focus on important matters outside of academics. For instance, applying for summer or semester internships, looking around for a summer job, deciding whether or not you want to take summer classes, and even focusing farther down the road on your career. It is a great opportunity for undergraduate students to apply for internships and research positions for the summer in their respective majors, or at least beginning thinking about them. You might even consider taking summer courses, whether they be on campus, online, or even transferable from another college or university. It may not seem like the most "fun" thing to do over break, but getting a head start on these kind of things puts you way ahead of your competition, and you won't regret it. I have yet to decide if I want to live on campus during the summer to get ahead on my classes, but I know that decision will be made before Spring semester begins in mid-January.

On the topic of internships and potential careers though, MSU provides an abundance of information and offers help to those searching for it. There's still many Career Fairs to attend this semester, three alone that are relatable to Engineering. Even if you're not sure you want to get an internship yet, go out and get the experience of being interviewed! Apply to a bunch of different places, not just the ones you want, just because you'll never know what kind of position you could be offered and where that will lead you later in life. At least, that's my plan for the semester!

But hey, don't work too hard. It is break, after all. ;]

And to all, a good night.

I know this is a little late but..

Merry Christmas, everyone! ^_^

I had a wonderful day with my family, opening presents, cooking delicious hors d'oeuvres, decorating holiday cake pops, and just warming up by the fire in the family room. We also ended the night with a great cinematic experience with my dad's new speaker system!

And guess what? I get to do it all again tomorrow with my extended family! Oh, how I love the holidays.

I hope you all had an excellent and blessed Christmas as well! The only thing that could have made it better would have been a little winter wonderland in the scenery.. oh well, enjoy the holidays!

Celebrate good times, c'mon!

FINALS WEEK IS OVER.

Thank goodness. It's always the longest week of the semester, the most stressful, and I'm pretty sure everyone's least favorite. I didn't have too much to complain about though. Like I mentioned before, I only had three exams, two on Monday and one of Friday, so they were pretty spaced out, and I had a lot of time to study for all of them (doesn't mean that I actually wanted to though...). I also had three scheduled shifts for the Bakery, when I would normally only have two in a week. Now I just have to wait for grades to come in to see if I got in to the College of Engineering!

My favorite part of the week was when my "floor family" did Secret Santa. :] There's eight of us on our floor that go to meals with each other frequently, walk to classes  together, and just hang out in our spare time or when we're doing homework. So we decided it would be a fun idea to do a Secret Santa gift exchange this Christmas season. I drew both of my suitemates (since there were so few of us, we chose two names instead of one) so I was able to spend a little more money on their gifts since I was going to do something for them anyway. I ended up painting glass blocks with some of their favorite things, you know, like the ones you put a string of Christmas lights in? Julia got the old Batman comic logo and Carly had the cover art for Muse's album "Resistance." They loved them, and I had a lot of fun painting the blocks as well. I received some Beauty and the Beast figurines from my friend Rachel, because she knows Belle is my favorite Disney princess, and Carly got me a Detroit Red Wings Al the Octopus Pillowpet. My friends know my so well! :] We also exchanged our general gifts to everyone that night as well. Eric got my suitemates and I a water filter that we can hook up to the sink in our bathroom, Marianne gave me a little stuffed animal sushi, and Teagan made little Christmas bags filled with candy and hot cocoa mix. It was so thoughtful on all of their parts!

Floor family :] <3

Oh I love my floor family, and I'm definitely going to miss them over the next three weeks.

Good luck and goodnight.

I just wanted to wish everyone good luck on their finals tomorrow and throughout the week!

I think I studied for my two exams taking place tomorrow (both of which are my most difficult classes) for about 20 hours the past two days.. I'm very tired of looking at differential equations, eigenvectors, and Mohr's circles!

I also hope that everyone enjoyed the midnight scream, especially the freshman. :]

If you ever plan to motor west, travel my way, take the highway, that's the best.

I have been doing so much traveling away from campus in the past two weeks! I didn't even realize it until now, but I've been to three different states and four cities in that very short amount of time. I may have mentioned this earlier, but my boyfriend took me to the Straight No Chaser concert in Cleveland, OH for my Christmas present at the end of Thanksgiving break, so that was an entire day trip (five hours there, a two hour concert, and four hours back). It was well worth it though. :] Straight No Chaser is an all male a cappella group out of Indiana University, and they are just incredibly talented and great performers. Very similar to our local Spartan Dischords!

A week later, a group of my friends drove down to Indianapolis, IN for the B1G Championship game of Michigan State vs. Wisconsin. The loss was quite unfortunate, but the rest of the day was packed full of shopping, special events, food, and cheering. I knew I was going to have a wonderful time no matter what the outcome was because I went with a really awesome group of people, and I ended up seeing a ton of my friends around the city as well. It was really fun to scream "Go green!" on the streets and hear all of the "Go white!" responses. I hope we win the Legends division next year, because I will DEFINITELY be going to the championship game again! :D

We were the LAST fans to get a picture with the B1G Championship trophy before it was taken to Lucas Oil Stadium!

My group! <3

Jack and I, section 132, Row 16 :]

And then the closest place I've traveled to recently, but still far enough to call a road trip, was to Ann Arbor for the MSU vs. UMich hockey game this past Friday. I had never been to Yost, their ice arena before, but it definitely made me love Munn that much more. My friends and I were about four of twelve  Spartan fans in the whole city, but we had a great time doing all the cheers and singing the fight song when we scored. Unfortunately, we lost 4-3, even coming back from a 4-1 deficit, but it was overall a great game, and it gave our team the momentum to come back and win on home ice the next day!

Like I said, four Spartans in a sea of maize... 

I just absolutely love road trips! It's a great way to break up the monotony of of school and work, and I always have so much fun!

Holiday Dinner!

Tonight is Holiday Dinner night in every cafeteria on campus! It's from 4-7 in Wilson, so I'm headed there now and I can't wait to eat all of the delicious food they have planned out. I'll come back and blog about it afterward :p

Make sure you grab one of the holiday sugar cookies! That's what I've been doing at work for the past month :p

Enjoy!

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Okay, so here's what the menu was:

• Tomato Tortellini Soup
• Grilled Ribeye Steak
• Golden Butterfly Shrimp
• Roasted Turkey
• Turkey Gravy
• Pecan Cranberry Wild Rice
• Squash Ravioli
• Baked Potato with Sour Cream and Chives
• Fresh Acorn Squash
• Steamed Broccoli Florets

Mmm mmm good! I had a little bit of the turkey with gravy, ribeye steak, baked potato, and broccoli. Not to mention the appetizers they served on the floor! There were mini wings, spring rolls, crab rangoon, mozzarella sticks, rolls, sauces and whipped butters, and desserts galore. So many types of food, I just HAD to try a little bit of each. :p

 I love theme dinners! So many students and local families come as well, because they know that the cafeterias serve good food for special occasions!