Life being a Nursing major and a Student Athlete and Catch up time!

Hello lovely ladies!!

Well it is April and we are feeling the Spring weather here on campus.  It has been in the 80s then dropping and going back up.  The temperatures are crazy!! Well I must apologize that it has been so long since I have blogged but I hope you know that I have been thinking about you ladies often and wondering how the admissions process is going!  I hope many of you ladies chose Notre Dame of Maryland University as your college choice!  This is an exciting time for the seniors as graduation is approaching soon and in a few short months you will be joining a college community!  College is an awesome change and a place where you can truly find yourself and find some of the most amazing people ever!  My freshman year of college has been one to remember.  I have made so many great new friends and I cannot imagine myself any where else except Notre Dame.

Since I have talked to you ladies my sports season has begun and we are almost finished the Gator Softball 2012 season.  Being a student athlete teaches you a lot about yourself.  You learn time management skills, which you need to be a student athlete anywhere, and you branch out of your group of friends and meet a lot of new people.  My softball team is one of the best group of girls I have ever played with in softball.  This year is a year of change.  We have a lot of new freshman on the team and a new coach.  We have all bonded, especially with our overnight stay in New York for our game.  Many girls think that it is not possible to be a college student and play a sport, but as long as you have the drive and study skills to keep up with your studies you can make it through a season just fine.

Preseason was definitely the hardest time for me because we had 7 am workouts Monday-Friday and practice in the evening 3 days a week.  Although that seems like a lot, all the work you put in during preseason will pay off during the season.  Being a student athlete means you will have to miss classes sometimes, but the teachers at Dame are very understanding as long as you take the lead and talk to them about when you will be missing class and that you will keep them informed of your schedule, they will work with you no problem.

Being a nursing major and being a student athlete is a lot of work.  Since we have different classes than other people, we have to work that much harder to keep up with our studies.  As I progress in the nursing major in my junior and senior years, playing softball is going to be a challenge that I am willing to take on.  Due to clinical experiences, my coach will have to work with me for the games that I cannot make due to my clinical part of the major.  But as of right now, playing softball and and being a pre-nursing major has helped me learn better time management skills.  I love my softball team to death and they are all supportive when something happens or you are having problems in school.  Your teammates are always the ones that will be there when you need someone.  I have attached a picture of my team, this is the serious one but we can be fun too!

 I will be blogging again soon!!! A little over 20 days left of school for the semester :))!

Have a fantastic weekend ladies!!!

Beginning of Spring Semester and Maryland Higher Education Day

Hello there you wonderful ladies!

Hope your holidays were fantastic!  Well here at Notre Dame I am back in the swing of things with classes and softball practice.  I am carrying a 17 credit semester while playing on the Gator softball team.  I have been very busy thus far with assignments, classes, and 7 am practice monday-friday and evening practices.   I do apologize that I didn't blog last week but I am getting my timing down with everything here so I should be back on track from now on.

Yesterday was special day for Maryland Independent Colleges and community colleges in Annapolis, MD.  Yesterday a group of Notre Dame students ventured to Annapolis to take part in Maryland Higher Education Day.  Here is a picture of us lovely Notre Dame students wearing our blue and white scarves!  We had two nursing students, an education student, a psychology student, and two second year Pharmacy students go for Notre Dame!  Look for the scarves and you will see us!!!!

Throughout the day yesterday we had the opportunity to talk with Delegates and Senators from our students home districts and also the legislators from the area the university is located.  Our point of attending this special day yesterday was to ask our legislators to give MICUA (Maryland Independent College and University Association) $11 million total to dispense to 4 colleges this year.  The capitol budget helps fund many operations that happen on this campus.

Notre Dame asked for $4 million to assist the college in building a new building on campus.  For nursing and education majors this will be our building.  The nursing wing will be built first and will have classrooms for the students and simulation labs to act like we are in a hospital setting to practice.  The building is going to cost about $22.6 million dollars total.  But good news is that the building will be up and running by the time my class are Juniors and in need of the building.  Also I had to opportunity to thank the legislators yesterday for their support of the university and helping distribute financial aid.  If I didn't receive the financial aid that I did, I would not be sitting in the Foreign Language Lab right now with my roomie Laura.

But on a lighter note, classes are going well.  I haven't really been able to go home since I am busy with classes and softball practice.  But I love my classes and I love my team.  Tonight the girls are going to one of our captains off campus apartments to have a "team dinner" which should be good bonding time for us.  But ladies you should definitely come and see one of the Gator Softball 2012 games and support me :). 

DON'T FORGET TO FILE YOUR FASFA LADIES!!! I have filed mine, have you filed yours???? Congrats to all our lovely accepted students for the Class of 2016!  This is an exciting time for you ladies so live it up! 

Well ladies it is FRIDAY which means we have a nice weekend break!  Hope you all have a lovely weekend and I will talk to you ladies again next week :)))!!!

-Colleen

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!!

Hello Ladies!!!

Well it has been a while since I talked to all you wonderful young ladies!! But finals week came super fast after Thanksgiving and all of my time was devoted to studying for the finals we had to take.  Finals weren't too bad.  Definitely tested our knowledge of the material.  But if we want to be successful nurses in the hospitals we need to know every little bit of material that the professors taught us.


I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas holiday with their families.  I know my family enjoyed having me home...even though I can be a little messy at times, but hey I am a 19 year old girl...who cares if I am neat...NOT ME haha!  But anywho since I have been home the past 3 weeks I have been working my little butt off at the restaurant.  I have definitely earned my money and believe me when people say you will be a "poor college student" they don't lie.  I have never realized how much you should value a dollar bill until I went to college and my mom wasn't there to give me money when I needed it. 

But today is New Years Eve and I hope all of you are looking forward to bringing the New Year in.  For many of you this is your year of graduation..please do not wish the next few months to fly by.  I did and believe me they flew by.  But my class had a little get together the other night and we went bowling at a local alley where we all went when we were students at Goretti.  It was nice to see everyone again :).  Below is a picture of the girls who went bowling..Class of 2011 :)

Well ladies I must get off the computer now.  I have to work at 3:30.  But I hope you all enjoy bringing in th New Year.  I will be spending time with my second family tonight! 

Happy New Years Ladies!!!!

-Colleen <3

Sorry that it has been so long ladies!!!

Hello Ladies!!!

I'm sorry it has been so long since I have blogged but school has been very busy and now that I am on thanksgiving break I have time to sit back and blog to you wonderful ladies. To those of you who came to the Preview Overnight Visit, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  I sure enjoyed seeing everyone on campus.  I had some pretty cool girls who stayed with me and I hope you all saw everything Notre Dame has to offer us young women. 

I now only have a few weeks till I completed my first semester as a pre-nursing student at Notre Dame.  We have had quite a few tests, quizes and papers these last couple weeks. The anatomy material is growing and everything is building on what we learned in the previous chapters.  Chemistry 108, wow the inorganic section is over and we are now in organic chem, completely different and a little more challenging for those of us in the class.  But with the help of each other we have gotten through the class so far. 

Finals week is less than two weeks away.  The only written finals I have to take are Anatomy and Chemistry.  IDS I have to submit a paper as my final and my english class all we have to do is correct our previous papers and submit an electronic portfolio.

Even though classes have me doing so much homework my roommate Laura and I have found time to have fun.  For Halloween we went over to her house and carved pumpkins then handed out candy to the little kids. Two weeks ago I brought my friend Tawny and my roommate Laura home to celebrate my birthday with me and my family.  I'm 19 woot woot!!!! One more year as a teenager.

But for now I am on thanksgiving break until sunday.  I have to go help cook thanksgiving dinner for tomorrow then go out with my mom before I go to work tonight.  I love my job at the restaurant :)!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Ladies!!!

-Colleen <3

Catch Up Time

Hey Ladies!!!

I'm so sorry that I haven't been on here in a while.  But I have had a lot of homework lately and papers galore.  But I decided to now take a break from homework and decided that I wanted to talk to the lovely ladies :).  I am on the downward slope of my first semester now.  Midterms were last week, but due to being a nursing major, I didn't have to take any midterms (WAHOO!!!!)

But any who, I hope school is going well for everyone!  Are those applications in yet??!!  I have been working very close with the admissions team lately and I hope to see most of you at the next admissions event!!!

I may also be a host during the Fall Preview Overnight.  So maybe one of you lucky girls will be my little prospie as we call you :) haha.  well ladies i'm sorry this one is so short but I must get back to my English paper.

I promise I will write more later this week. 

Enjoy your last two days of school :)


Toodles :)

The Stresses of being a college freshman!

Hey girls! Sorry I haven't been able to blog in a while!! This week was a very stressful week for me here at Notre Dame!! I had two multiple chapter tests this week and papers due this week.  Although this week was very stressful, I made it though the week and here I am. 

Being a nursing major requires a lot of study time for the sciences and IDS classes.  This week was a learning experience for as I was taking my first tests as a college student and my first big papers were due this past week.  Writing a six page paper on caring, o boy let me tell you, not as easy as you think.  Anatomy and Chemistry were my two subjects i had tests in this week and believe me I studied my little butt of to do well on these tests.  In order for me to stay in my program I have to maintain a  "B" average in my classes and to keep my scholarships I have to maintain a 3.0 gpa.  Let me tell you that may seem easy to read, but once you get into the classes it's not as easy as you think.  Memorizing all of the bones in the body including the skill (pictured below) is NOT easy!!

Anywho, this upcoming week is exciting for me!! I am officially a STAR (a student rep for the admissions team) and I will now be involved in the campus activities including the open house this Saturday!!  Hope to see some of you wonderful ladies here on campus this weekend!!

And yes on weekends you can find things to do around Baltimore with your girlfriends!! Samantha, Laura (my roommate) and I headed out last weekend for a girls night out with some other girls from our floor!!! 

For now I am going to enjoy the rest of the weekend here at home after three weeks.  I brought my friend Samantha home.  We enjoyed an Italian meal tonight, it was quite yummy!!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend ladies and I will blog again in the middle of the week!!!

Toodles!!!

Family Weekend!!

This weekend marks my official welcome into the Notre Dame of Maryland University community.  My family came to Baltimore today for my Honors Convocation.  This morning as my roommate Laura and I were getting ready to meet the rest of the Class of 2015 outside of Theresa Hall we both realized that we have been at school for a month already and that the next 4 years are going to fly by just as fast.  When it was time for us to head downstairs to meet our family I felt a mix of emotions.  I was excited to see my family because I've missed them so much.  I was also thinking about how in 4 years I will be wearing the same exact cap and gown that I have draped over my arm when I graduate from this University.  In the picture you see below is my family after Honors Convocation.  I love my family so much

I was able to go to the Crab Feast with my roommate Laura, and o boy were those crabs good!!! Hanging out with the ladies on campus is just so fun and I cannot wait for you to experience the dorm life so you really have an idea of what us Notre Dame ladies do on the weekends we don't go home!!

As I sat listening to the speeches and listening to the words Dr. Seurkamp gave words of wisdom to the new students I realized that I am now on a journey of learning more about myself and learn what it truly means to be a Notre Dame woman! We were welcomed into the Notre Dame family with open arms.  The one thing a lot of us girls were looking forward to after Honors Convocation was being able to have guests past 8:00 PM (but believe me its not that big of a deal). 

To finish out the weekend I am staying with my family in the hotel and then spending some family time with them tomorrow then heading back to campus.  Ladies this week will be a rough week because I have big tests and papers this week so if I don't get on here as much that it probably why, but I will do my best to get on here just for all of you :).  Hope your school year is going well and please remember to keep an eye on your application deadlines for your college apps; the earlier you get them in the more money you can get sometimes and the less stress you have on your shoulders.  Make sure you send your SAT scores to the school!!

Hope you all come to the Fall Preview weekend and all upcoming admissions events!! I am a STAR with the admissions team so some of you wonderful young ladies might have the honor of staying in the dorm room with me and my roommate Laura haha!  Well ladies I'm going to hop off here and watch some TV with my family!!

Enjoy your weekend and do your homework like good students!!!