I am almost done with my exams!! I have 3 exams today and I have already completed two of them and so I am finished with Marketing, Drawing, and Publication Design. Tonight I have my final for World Civilizations I and then Typography is tomorrow. This past week has been filled with tons of work, studying, and trying to fit in seeing friends before I leave.

On Sunday I went to a holiday potluck where I got to spend time with an amazing group of people who are mostly involved in service and action on campus through the Center for Service and Civic Engagement. We celebrated the holidays by seeing old friends, eating delicious food, telling stories, and catching up. Kyle Dodson, the head of the Center, was kind enough to invite us all to his house to celebrate around his Christmas tree.

We also did a yankee swap, which I had surprisingly never done before. It was very entertaining watching the prizes get taken multiple times from other people. I ended up with a grab bag of goodies from my friend Katie who themed the bag on her semester in Belize last year. Inside was a gossip magazine, which she claims to have read multiple times while in Belize, a bottle of water, since they couldn't drink tap water, a small souvenir that said Central America on it, sunscreen, a deck of cards, crayons, and a banana.

It was really nice to see a lot of my friends in one place before I left but I'll be spending the end of this week trying to see other friends while finishing up school and packing up my apartment. I am excited to go home and see my friends there, but I'm sad to have to leave other friends here in Burlington while I journey through Europe during my semester in Dublin. Most importantly, I am just excited to put this semester behind me and have nothing left on my To Do list, besides Christmas shopping!

Posted by Caitlin Patey at 5:34 PM | Permalink

We are knee deep in the last week of classes here at Champlain this week and everyone is running around trying to get all of their work done. As a Graphic Design major I am looking forward to more projects and less finals for the next coming week. I still have 3 major finals that I will be spending a long time in the library studying for next week, but most of my graphic design classes have final projects.

You may think that gets us off the hook, but the truth is the projects are just as challenging as a typical college final. For one of my classes I am designing a book about myself to distribute with my resume for job interviews. This gives the interviewer something to take away and a look at who I am beyond my resume. Although exciting, this requires 8 spreads, or 16 pages of designed work, a cover design, and printing along with assembly of the book itself. The best part about this, though, is when it's all over I have a product in my hand to turn in for a final, but also to keep as a portfolio piece and something to use when applying for internships next year.

Along with the week of finals I am trying to balance out seeing friends here in Burlington before I move back home for winter break and head out to Ireland for next semester. I have the amazing opportunity to study abroad again, as I went to Montreal last semester. Champlain has two study abroad sites that make it very easy for students to take a semester abroad. The classes are all Champlain classes and have the same tuition and room costs. This doesn't limit you to using third party programs to go to other locations but it does make it easier to do a semester abroad.

I am very exciting to head to Dublin because I had such an amazing experience in Montreal. Although it is so close to us in Burlington, it is a completely different culture. I learned about Canadian history, literature, culture and design, which has been a major eye opener and will only help in my future career.

Going back to trying to see all my friends, I have been making dates and planning times to hang out with them, but time is limited when every second counts to study. I have three really awesome friends that I met this past summer from work who go to UVM and St Mike's who I will most likely be going to get some hot chocolate at Muddy Waters with and another friend who was my roommate for two semesters who I will be going out to dinner with somewhere downtown.

I really enjoy spending time downtown with my friends because there is so many places to go. Right now church street is lit up with bright lights and looks very festive. It is hard to stay away but I know I have to save up my money for Dublin next semester!

Posted by Caitlin Patey at 9:33 PM | Permalink