Alyssa’s Blog 

I haven’t done much the last two days besides study. I am nervous about my two finals tomorrow: Principles of Math and Spanish, and most of my butterflies are caused by the math final. I can’t sit in one spot for a long time to study though, so I usually switch it up between some of my favorite spots:

• The atrium of the John Cook School of Business
• The tables behind the Samuel Cupples House when it’s sunny
• The banquet rooms in Reinert, especially the quiet study
• Pius Library
• The steps by the clocktower (but then I usually get distracted people-watching!)

I only have time for a quick post between studying (or trying to get the motivation to since I don’t have any finals until Tuesday) and checking out residents and packing, but I had to say: I AM SO EXCITED!!!! Last year, as a freshman, I did the random roommate selection and had an amazing roommate. Although it was good for both of us, I studied in Madrid in the fall, and she’s spent the spring semester in Rome, Italy. She called me last night though and I saw her long enough to give her a huge hug but this afternoon we’re going to hang out! We have so much to catch up on and I can’t wait to hear her stories. For anyone worried about your future roommates, all I have to say is I had an awesome experience with mine.

As I was sitting in the BSC this evening studying for my Microeconomics exam tomorrow, KSLU Radio station started playing The Lion King’s “Hakunah Matata”. We all know that it means “no worries”, and it just made me start laughing as I was worring incessantly about my finals, checking residents out of Reinert, packing to go home, spending time with my friends, and the million other things that were on my mind. I’m really glad that Timon and Pumbaa were able to make me remember that finals are just that…finals.

Although I must say, I didn’t have to worry about getting dinner tonight even though I’m nearly out of flex dollars! The MORE program, a continuation of the SLU Experience for sophomores and juniors, provided a free dinner, tshirt, and speaker for SLU upperclassmen. It’s kind of nice to see that while everyone is focused on the graduating seniors and the freshmen finishing their first years, that someone still appreciates what us middleaged students do!

Many SLU students do service in St. Louis, and some reach out to the rest of the USA, and even to other countries! One SLU student has founded and organization called Prints for Peace. After traveling to Haiti, she started the organization by painting canvas tote bags and selling them with all of the proceeds going to Haiti. My co-RA, Charity, and I wanted to organize a service-event for our floor, so we contacted the founder of Prints for Peace. She came down to Reinert Sunday night and talked about the mission of her organization and let us help to paint bags. I had a ton of fun trying to be creative! I think I might even buy the bag I painted and give it to my mom for Mother’s Day, so I won’t post a picture of it. Instead, here is a photo of Charity with her bag. It turned out so cute!

Finals week? Really?! It feels like this semester just started. I’m not looking forward too much to taking the actual finals, but St. Louis weather usually starts to get nicer when finals time comes. The key word in that sentence: usually. Monday I walked out of class at noon, and there was some form of frozen percepitation falling on me. It wasn’t quite snow, but it was too hard to be bail, and who knows, it might have even been sleet. Why? And of course by the time I got back to my room to get a sandwich, the sun was shining. St. Louis weather is weird! Today there is supposed to be a high of 76, so hopefully I’ll get to sit outside and study for a bit. I love walking to Forest Park to study there, but even if I’m short on time, it’s nice that I can sit out by the clocktower, the Dolphin Pond, or Laclede Park’s gazebo to study. It distracts me from the reality of studying at least!

A few weeks ago, I had an interview for the Great Issues Committee, or GIC, at SLU. The Great Issues Committee is a group of students who bring speakers to campus that talk about issues affecting the student body. I fortunately got the position, and I’m really excited to be involved in such a great organization on campus! We’re already meeting at the end of this year to start brainstorming potential speakers for next year. This past spring, the GIC brought speakers like Mary Robinson, the first female president of Ireland, and Wesley Clark, a retired army general. I’m pumped about the potential for all of next year’s speakers!

Plus…researching speakers online is a great break from so much studying this past week. I don’t know what my teachers were thinking! I had four tests and two papers. And, someone has a countdown going in the BSC that says “X Days until the end of the semester”. Why has this semester flown by?!

This weekend was SLU’s Relay for Life, an event hosted by the American Cancer Society. It is a tradition at SLU, and last year the student body raised over $180,000 for the fight against cancer. It starts at 6pm on Saturday, and continues until 6am the following morning. Last year I was on a team with my floor to raise money, and this year I was on a team with the Student Activities Board, and I’ve been in contact with friends and family all semester long in order to get donations for such a good cause. Although I decided not to stay for the entire event this year (I have four tests this week, and I needed to be awake to study today), I did get to see the opening ceremonies, the luminaria ceremony in honor of those who lost the battle against cancer, as well as several of the performing groups that provided entertainment throughout the night. I also got to walk around the track several times and also take a break at our “campsite” to play my favorite card game, Nerts.

When I got back from Spain this spring, I had really long hair since I had not gotten it cut while I was abroad. My friend Emily did as well, and she had the brilliant idea of getting our hair cut together to donate to Locks of Love, an organization that takes donated hair and turns it into wigs for cancer patients who have lost their hair. So, Saturday morning, we both got ten inches cut off our hair!! It’s good to see that SLU students work so hard to make a difference in the fight against cancer, because by the speeches made at Relay last night, it has affected many students deeply.

So I made a terrible faux pas. I got an email about the APO (Alpha Phi Omega- the national co-ed service fraternity) activation ceremony for new pledges this semester, and I deleted it because it was one of several I had gotten, and geez, I knew the time already. When I got to the ceremony, it became clear that I had missed where it said in the email I had failed to read that dress was business casual, not black pants and a white shirt like it has been every other semester. So, I sat there looking like I was catering while everyone else got to wear their cute dress up clothes! Other than being strangely dressed, the ceremony went great. I got to help activate my “little” who is actually in a few of my classes this semester. We got coffee at the Bean last week so we could get to know each other better, and I’m glad that APO is getting another person who is clearly dedicated to service!

Have you ever heard of a trivia night? I’m told that it is a St. Louis tradition, because not many of my friends from other cities have heard of it. It is usually a fundraiser for something, and you form teams of 8-10 people and all of the teams compete to see who can answer the most trivia questions correctly. There are usually ten categories with 10 questions per category. Saturday night, I went to a trivia night with my two best friends from high school and some of our parents. We answered questions about current events, reality television, car logos, and more, and we had a ton of fun! One of my friends goes to SLU, but with our schedules we don’t actually see each other that often. My other friend goes to a school out of St. Louis, so we haven’t seen each other in awhile. Saturday was actually the first time I got to see her beautiful engagement ring! The trivia night was fun (although we did not do well), and it was such a strange break from college to go back to hanging out with my old high school friends! It’s hard to believe how much we’ve all changed in two short years.

None of the residents of the 3rd and 7th floors of Reinert needed directions like Scotty Smallz did in the Sandlot-they all seemed pretty practiced at making s’mores when we had a campfire on Wednesday. We were worried when the rain postponed the event on Tuesday, but we had a fair number of students show up for the rescheduling on the back patio. We went shopping for supplies last week, but we didn’t tell the residents the secret ingredient-that makes the s’mores perfect-until they came on Wednesday. The night was fun, but also a learning experience because we used the presence of fire to talk about the new fire drill procedures in the building. The bext part for me was seeing everyone out of their rooms and having fun together. And, watching me and two other girls trying to light the charcoal for our campfire (someone should have had a video camera!).

What exactly was our secret ingredient? Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!

Any other creative s’more ideas?