Next week is midterm week but luckily most of my professors this semester don't believe in midterms. Instead I have a bunch of projects I need to work on and hand in over the next five days. The lack of tests is pretty awesome considering the fact that the past few weeks have been busy with events and meetings. I wouldn't have had any time to study. Friday was Coffeehouse's first event of the semester. Eric Hutchinson came to perform and it was great! He drew in over 200 excited students to our new theater in DeNaples. That’s a huge number considering the fact that he was up against a huge basketball game going on at the same time. Tuesday Black Violin came. Black Violin consists of two men (one playing the violin, the other playing the viola) who play a huge mix of music. They went from hip hop over to classical in the one hour they were on stage and again over 200 people came to listen. There also was a double feature with August Rush and Walk Hard on Monday.
The biggest event being planned right now is our spring concert featuring Lifehouse, Matt Nathanson, and Honey Honey. Looking for a reason to visit the U? Tickets go on sale to the public tomorrow (3/10) and they're only $15! Grab a ticket and come visit Scranton March 29.

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 9:35 PM | Permalink

Bahar and I were looking at some pictures from last semester today and it's ridiculous how much we have all changed. When I think about my time here in Scranton, I still think of all the great things that happened my freshman year. My feelings and memories are as vivid as they would be if they happened today, yet we look noticeably younger in all our pictures. Of course this brought us into a long discussion on all the things that have changed over the past year. We look different, we act different, we have some new friends, we've finished our general classes and moved on to the ones for our majors... I can't believe that I'm halfway through with my sophomore year. In a few months I'll be moving into my house off campus and getting ready for my junior year! It's really wild how fast life moves.
Besides the few nostalgic moments here and there, this semester has been going extremely well. I find all of my classes interesting and I'm excited to study, read, and learn. I guess that Christmas break was just what I needed to give myself rest and be ready for the months to come. Coffeehouse has a big semester coming up as well. Amanda and I have started getting fliers and things ready for this years Battle of the Bands. The event takes place the first weekend in May and college bands compete for a chance to win a nice chunk of change. While the bands play, USPB also hosts the annual Spring Fling on the Founder's Green (a fun afternoon filled with games and food) followed by an awesome headliner band later. It's going to take a lot of work on top of our usual coffeehouses' but I'm extremely excited to be one of the people running it this year. The yearbook has also been working hard since we've been back. We have our first deadline coming up so things are a bit hectic.
Anyway, I'm going to get my reading done and get some sleep.
Enjoy your week!

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 12:13 AM | Permalink

Most things are over for the semester; Esprit, USPB, and the yearbook are pretty wrapped up for now. But unfortunately this doesn’t mean we can all relax. It’s finals week, which means we all have to sit down and study harder than we have since August. Most of us have been studying all weekend but finals don’t really start until Tuesday. This means I still have one full day to study and it just happens to be Kristen’s birthday! Hopefully we’ll go out to a nice dinner or something. It will be nice to get a break from the studying atmosphere for a little while.
Besides studying though, this week is filled with a lot of mixed thoughts. I want to go home and see my family. / I don’t want to leave Scranton and my friends. I want to hang out and enjoy my last weekend here until January. / I want to sit down and study until my brain hurts.
Okay, so I don’t really want to study that much, but I have to. Unfortunately I don’t have a choice in the matter. I have to go home next Saturday and I have to study. But this is my break from studying! With that being said I’m going to stop talking about finals.

Last Friday was our Royal Ball. It was a great time! The Novelty and Variety committee worked really hard and they did a fantastic job. It was held at the Hilton this year (awesome!) and instead of collecting canned goods this year; they collected a dollar a ticket to donate to the Global Fund (the company Product (Red) donates to). The theme was “A Red Carpet Affair� and they had a beautiful red carpet introducing you to the dance. They had perfect atmosphere, good food, and a great desert.
I don't have all the pictures yet, but here are some.

"here boys, print this!"

enjoy your week!

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 6:43 PM | Permalink

Even though it's normal for the snow to start in November here in Scranton, it's still a little weird to see it. Last winter it was warm until after Christmas break! It's been snowing here all weekend. It didn't stick to the roads or anything but it started to stick to the grass today so it's looking pretty nice outside now. I love the beginning of winter. Everything has that clean, crisp smell and you begin to bundle up but nothing too much. It's nice.
Bahar and I spent most of this weekend singing loudly to music and dancing in our room with some of the people in the house. Today was more exciting, however, for my house had a Thanksgiving dinner! We all had to make something so I made a pie for desert and others made stuffing, corn, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, etc, and out RA made us a nice turkey. It all turned out great so that was a nice way to end the weekend. We also picked out Secret Santas so I should stay busy thinking about a good gift for that until Christmas.
Thanksgiving break starts on Wednesday so this week is going to be nice and short which is pretty exciting. Unfortunately, I have to write two major papers which isn't so exciting. Four of my friends and I also signed a lease for our house next year! The U only guarantees housing for the first two years of school and then after that there aren't any promises. Next year all of the on campus juniors and seniors will be living in either one of out campus houses or the Mulberry or Madison Apartments. Those places are some of the nicest on campus but my friends and I were worried that we would get a bad lottery time and wouldn't have a place to live. So we've been searching for a nice place to live in for the past two months or so and we finally signed a lease! It's a nice house so naturally I'm pretty excited for junior year now.
I have to go read for class tomorrow but I'll leave you with some pictures from the past week or so. Enjoy!
dodgeball!

and an extra just for fun:

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 6:32 PM | Permalink

Only one more week and 2 extra days before Thanksgiving break. This semester is going so fast! I already scheduled for my classes for next semester, all of my coffeehouses are done, it's almost the Royal Ball, Esprit Edits are done...everything is beginning to wind down. The past two weekends have been taken up by Esprit edits and we had some really good pieces this semester. One of my pictures even got in so I'm excited about that. A bunch of great photos made it this semester which is also pretty exciting in itself.

So on to my week...Thankfully this past week wasn't too bad with work so I got to catch up where needed and get a little ahead on other things. The extra time allowed me to head to the movies tonight with friends to see Across the Universe (which I really liked). So today was pretty good. Tomorrow I'm participating in USPB's Mission and Identity's Dodgeball Tournament which should be great. I have high hopes for my team as our name is "The Bomb Squad" and we all practice daily (anybody getting psyched out?). Hopefully I'll have some good pictures next week.
I guess I should get some rest for my big game, wish us luck!

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 10:41 PM | Permalink

Yesterday the Office Convention was officially kicked off. At 4 o'clock in the morning I went down to Linden Circle and joined the crowed waiting for the Today Show to start. It was really awesome! NBC set up a huge stage and they had the cheerleaders, dance team, and urban beatz perform for everyone while we were waiting. Then, as promised, at 7:00 am, Al Roker came out. Some office characters came out in groups and gave short interviews and talked to some students (which was awesome!) as well. Click here to see clips of the Today Show live from the University of Scranton! http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=395494a4-9e66-4a3b-a89b-10d28e914113

After the show the campus was going all day as people from the U and otherwise ran around trying to find out more about the weekend. Today I volunteered for the convention and it was just as cool I saw Angela come out to do autograph signings and everyone went CRAZY! Tons of people showed up and it was just a great time and it isn't even close to being over! After I helped out I walked back up on campus and ended up walking behind Meredith for a little while. It's pretty awesome that the cast members are walking around campus like that. And didi mention that she paused to take some pictures and say hi to people? They have been really great. Today at 5 we have the Q & A with the cast and then at 8 is the Look-alike contest. The convention is great so far and hopefully after the weekend I can send over more pictures your way. For now enjoy these.

**All these pictures were taken by Diana Sorbera . Thanks Dee :)

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 3:03 PM | Permalink

Sadly, Friday was Coffeehouse's last show of the semester. Asteria came and rocked out in front of about 50-60 people and it was awesome. I'm really happy with the way the coffeehouse events turned out this semester. We had great attendance and I've had a bunch of people come up to me after saying that they've become addicted to the bands! It's really great to hear that people enjoyed the shows we planned. Next semester should be great. Our committee has been amazing with band suggestions and I'm really excited for it to all come together.
Other than USPB I've been spending a lot of time working on Yearbook stuff. Bahar and I are working on something we can put out to let RA's know that we need pictures representing our residence life.
Fall Break was pretty good. Of course the break from work was amazing, but coming back to work wasn't as good. I should probably go catch up with that.

ps-Hi Neil! :)

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 10:22 AM | Permalink

I'm home for fall break and I miss Scranton already. Don't get me wrong, this break was completely necessary. Last week I had 4 midterms on one day so the break from work is welcomed, but I miss everyone! I'm so happy that I'm living in Liva instead of a dorm. In my dorm last year I became really close with the girls on my floor but I didn't even know a lot of people who live in my building. This year is different though because you're close with the whole house. It's the kind of close that you would get with your floor except you find it anywhere in the building that you go. I have my friends everywhere I go in the house, when I went into the kitchen, when I walked down the hall, when I did laundry.
So I miss everyone and their antics but home is pretty nice too. This weekend happened to be my high school's homecoming weekend so I got to go to a came and see a bunch of people I graduated with. It was a little strange because I haven't seen some of those people in over a year, but it was pretty nice to catch up.
Tomorrow I'm going to have dinner with my family and then Monday I get to play catch-up. Basically I see all of the people I missed and do all of the little things I wanted to do ie: my laundry. For now I'm going to go watch a movie with my sister and then get ready to eat at our new Applebees!
Until next week,
Jenn

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 8:15 PM | Permalink

Hey everyone,
I hope your week went well. My week was wild! Tuesday was Making April and the show was flawless! The guys from the band were really nice and they put on a great acoustic show. We were expecting maybe 50 students or so including people in our committee but there were about 85 students down in the Wolves Den! For a Tuesday night thats pretty great. Amanda and I were pretty ecstatic to say the least. Here are some pictures from the event:

Making April!

me and Making April

Amanda and Making April

This weekend was also Family Weekend and USPB's Novelty and Variety committee put together a great carnival. People even won goldfish! Besides the carnival, there were tons of families all over campus all weekend. Some of my own family came up too! My parents couldn't make it but my cousins go here as well and their parents came up so I was able to spend some time with them.
Next week is supposed to be pretty calm so hopefully it will stay that way but I doubt it. Fall Break is coming up on the 12th so a lot of classes are trying to squish in a bunch of work and some midterms.
Well it could always be worse, at least they aren't finals yet!
Enjoy your week,
Jenn

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 8:04 PM | Permalink

Current Location: Liva
Current Movie: The Little Mermaid

This week went so fast it's unbelievable! The work load wasn't overwhelming, which was very nice. Amanda and I also held our first Coffeehouse meeting. We were so excited! We had a pretty good crowd and everyone was really talkative and excited about helping us bring good music to campus this year. Basically our meeting couldn't have gone any better.

Bahar (my roommate) and I also had visitors this weekend. Her sister, Nese, and our friend Stella came up, We all made Turkish food for the house and it was a big hit. I think we're going to make some of it again soon. This Saturday we also bought tickets to go see the Foo Fighters soon because they're playing only 20 minutes away!

The best part of this weekend through is knowing that Coffeehouse has another event coming up on Tuesday! Amanda and I have been spending a lot of time getting things ready. We ordered wings and soda and then some deserts and coffee. We also got some Making April Cd's so that we can do a few free giveaways. One of my classes got canceled on Tuesday which will help my day run a lot smoother.

Until next week,
Jenn

P.S. Here's a little Liva for your life :)

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 1:26 AM | Permalink

It's so amazing to be back in Scranton. As most freshman usually do, I had my doubts. I loved Scranton but someones I would get that thought of 'What if I went somewhere else?" This year is different though. I literally can't picture myself anywhere else. I spent my summer missing Scranton.
One thing I didn't miss though was work and now, three weeks into the semester, the work is definitely back. I mean it isn't killing me or anything, but it's definitely there. I guess before giving a nice update I should recap a little about myself. My name is Jenn Dice and I'm a second year, Secondary Education and English major. At the moment I'm actually considering switching that major to Media and Information Technology and English, but that's for another entry. I like to keep myself involved so I'm an editor of the Esprit and I'm a co-committee head for USPB. The Esprit is Scranton's literary magazine. We publish prose, poetry and photography pieces that people here at the U have created. USPB is the University of Scranton Programming Board. We basically run all activities on campus that aren't held by a specific club or organization. Inside the USPB we have different committees and each committee is in charge of something specific. For example, I'm one of the Coffeehouse Committee Heads and the Coffeehouse Committee is in charge of bringing all music acts to campus. The Comedy Committee brings comedians, the Movie Committee shows movies, Novelty and Variety handles traditions such as the Fall Ball and Welcome Back Fest etc. It's tons of fun!

This year is a little different than last year. Not only am I thinking of switching majors I'm also not living in a dorm! Instead I'm living in one of Scranton's off-campus houses, Liva. The Liva House is amazing!! These houses allow us to have a unique experience. We have a real house with 32 people other people. No more community bathrooms but single person bathrooms. No lounge but a living room and we have a full kitchen. Once a week one of the house-mates even cook for everyone. It's really home-like and I love it. My RA is fantastic and my house-mates are amazing! The only downside is the fact that our internet has been going down every so often, but we called the help desk and they've been working really hard to help us out.

Basically this year has had an amazing start. But as I had said I unfortunately have some work to do and I must go get it done.
Have a great week!

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 3:00 PM | Permalink

The fact that I won’t be back in Scranton for another 3 months is really starting to sink in. It’s pretty sad that I’m feeling home-sick already. Just as Rob said in his entry this week, Scranton has really become a home. I’m there for most of my year. I have a place to sleep and eat. I have friends I can consider family
For my last entry I wanted to tell you all three important things I learned this semester. I don’t want to tell you things to pack and all that (although it’s pretty important) but instead I want to tell you little tricks I learned to make Scranton or whatever college you chose your home.

1. Go in with an open mind and enjoy what’s in front of you.
In the beginning all I kept worrying about were the “what ifs�. What if I chose the wrong college? What if I want to change my major to something they don’t have? What if there’s nothing to do? What if I didn’t pack the right things? In the end I didn’t choose the wrong college. I’m taking extra classes at a school that does have photography, just because. There was plenty to do and if anything I packed too much. If I didn’t waste so much time worrying I could have had more time to enjoy everything! Leave your worries at the door because you’ve made your decision. Instead of trying to figure out if there’s something better for you, make your choice the best there is! Find things you’re interested in. Keep yourself busy. Get to know the people on your floor. Concentrate in your classes. Get to know your surroundings. It’s easy to worry yourself out of a good decision, don’t let that happen. You chose your school for a reason now the hard part is over. Own your decision and make it good.

2. Get active in things that are important to you.
During the first few weeks of school there will be a few different activity and job fairs. Scope them out and talk to the people who are running the tables. If you love to write, talk to people who are involved with the Aquinas, our newspaper. If you love music talk to the people from our radio station or members of the Coffeehouse committee. If you love traveling, talk to people on the travel board committee. If you’re big into volunteering, than join our new club called SHH. I could go on and on with this but I think you get the point. Take the things that are important to you and get involved with them. At least throw your email address down on the different lists and go to the first meeting. If you find you don’t like it than that’s fine! Everyone doesn’t love everything. In the beginning of the year I signed up for pretty much everything but by the end I became an active member on the two boards that became the most important to me: USPB/Coffeehouse and Esprit. I’m so excited to go back to school next semester and have these things there waiting for me. These clubs, boards and activities are a great way to keep yourself active and happy. Plus you get to meet tons of people. All of the members are interested in the same thing you are giving a great friendship starter right from the beginning…which brings me into my final point.

3. Show respect and make friends.
Join groups, talk in class and make friends with your floor. These are the people that you’re going to be around all year. You aren’t going to be best friends with everyone but you’re going to see them all of the time regardless, especially your roommate(s) and the people on your floor. If you are all respectful of each other than you should get along wonderfully. If your roommate is doing homework but you want to listen to music, put on some headphones. If you like to sleep late but your roommate is an early riser, come up with some rules about the lights. Clean up after yourself in the bathroom. Wipe down the sink after you brush your teeth or wash your dishes. All of these things sound like common sense but they’re easily forgotten. If you and your floor mutually respect each other than you’ll make it through the year without too much damage. Don’t be afraid to reach out and become friends with these people as well. My greatest friends of the year didn’t only come from my floor. Some I met through class and others I met through activities. Sometimes you have to put yourself on the line and say hello first but don’t be too afraid. Remember all of the freshman you’re meeting are just like you, freshman! Nobody knows anyone and everyone is looking for a friend.

Anyway, I’m on my summer vacation in Cape Cod (where I already met a Scranton graduate…how random?!) and I’m going to go try and enjoy myself. I wish all of you best of luck on your finals, graduation and summer plans. Enjoy yourself and relax! If you have any questions or just want to make a friend, feel free to talk to me. Drop me an email and I’ll answer you back within the week- scout’s honor.
Stay safe this summer and I hope to see you all next August!
-Jenn Dice
dicej2@scranton.edu

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 10:18 AM | Permalink

Sorry for failing at my updates everyone. The work just doesn't stop. In fact as I'm writing this I'm also going over yet another paper due this week. I think it's important though to give you guys an update before finals kick in so here we go!

Here’s a quick breakdown of the things I said I would explain last time:
Montreal was amazing! We able to go for three days and two nights (Friday-Sunday) and the price was amazing. The trip was organized through the school; I believe one of the French teachers here put it together actually. Everyone who signed up received a travel book explaining the city and then we all pretty much were able to go out and about as we pleased and see all of the sights that were important to us. My friends and I were able to do things such as walk around the city and Old Montreal for a bit, go to the Biodome, one of the beautiful art museums, eat some good Canadian food and a bunch of other things that were interesting to us. Definitely keep an eye out next year for any kind of trips here. They're cheap and totally worth it! It's a nice break from campus and a good learning experience.

The Spring Concert went over really well. Three bands, Paulson, the Starting Line and Hawthorne Heights preformed and it was a great time. Everyone who came seemed to really enjoy themselves and the bands themselves were awesome! I was lucky enough to be able to sit down and have dinner with some of the guys from Paulson and they were all really cool people. Also because I was part of the committee I was able to do a quick meet and greet where we all got to not only take a picture with the bands but have them sign some posters which is obviously really cool.

Esprit, as I mentioned in a previous blog, is the on campus literary magazine. It actually just came out yesterday and it looks awesome. Two of my photos made it in so I'm more than proud of this baby. The magazine is free and located around campus for anyone to grab and enjoy.

Now onto some new stuff. After a full application and interview process I was asked to be a committee head next year for USPB. USPB stands for the University of Scranton Programming Board and it's made up of a bunch of different committees. I'm going to be a co-head of the Coffeehouse committee which is basically in charge of bringing different bands to the campus for different events and concerts which is awesome! I'm more than excited to be part of this board and you guys should all look into joining the committees! USPB handles all of the different activities from the music and comedy acts all the way through to the annual Spring Fling and Royal Ball. Anything that you’re interested in is handled by the different committees and everyone on campus is more than welcome to join anything that sparks their interest. This way you can have a say in the activities here! Obviously I'm a huge advocator of this program and believe that anyone coming here should definitely sign up for the mailing lists during the activities fair in the fall and check it out!

Basically besides getting hammered with tons of work these things have been the highlights of the past few months. I really can't believe it's almost over! I mean I'm pretty excited for next year. I'm going to know more people and meet more people. I'm going to have the Coffeehouse and Esprit to keep me busy plus I have Fridays off.
Expect one final blog from me next week until then enjoy yourselves!

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 12:12 AM | Permalink

I can't believe that it's been two months since I've been able to write on here! A million things have happened. Unfortunately I broke my hand during an intense day of snowboarding at the end of February and wasn't able to do too much. Since then I have celebrated approximately 7-10 birthdays (one being my own), went home for Spring Break and for Easter, went with the school to Montreal, helped out at the annual Spring Concert here, and even took part in my first editing for the Esprit Magazine here on campus!
Right now I'm extremely tired so I'm going to bed but I'm going to update on all those events Wednesday afternoon. I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm alive and well because Jess said her mom told her that I haven't updated in a long time and she is obviously correct. This will be fixed!
Enjoy your night!

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 11:42 PM | Permalink

No classes have been on since before 6 last night.
The upstairs cafe is closed.
They're talking about canceling classes again tomorrow.

Actually we're in a state of emergency right now. All highways have been closed for hours but now people just aren't allowed to drive. If you're caught driving at all you get fined. People have been abandoning cars in the road. We're fined if we park in the street. Snow is probably way above our knees right now and it's still snowing. We're supposed to get another 2-4 inches tonight. This is nuts!! I don't really know exactly how much snow is outside because we have people on campus who are trying to keep up with the walkways that lead to the cafe and that's the only place I've been all day. I will say though that before lunch the walkways were pretty nice but during the hour I had lunch they were covered again. We had to walk through at least an inch or so to get back in. It's crazy! I kind of hope we have another snow day tomorrow-it's my hard day of classes. Then we can have class again on Friday...I'll only have one anyway. =)
It's been pretty crazy in the dorms. At first everyone was just real happy for snow. People were riding everything from sleds down to plastic containers down the hills around the commons for fun but now I hear a lot more talk about this 'state of emergency'. I can still hear people screaming outside though so some people are having a good time.

I went downstairs to get pictures of the snow and found out there's no school again tomorrow! Tomorrow is also Bahar's birthday so it's going to be awesome to hang out with friends all day and enjoy it! Well you can enjoy these pictures, I'm going to go have a dance party with my floor!

waiting to find out if schools canceled tomorrow for sure:

first reactions:

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 6:11 PM | Permalink

My roommate and I are going to Montreal for two nights with the school at the end of next month! I'm so excited. I've never been to Canada before so it's a great opportunity. Not to mention it's only $140 to get there and back plus stay in the hotel for two nights. Good deal, huh? I think so. Besides that nothing too interesting happened this week.
OH! The weather has was ridiculous! I wore so much clothes walking to class last week I felt like the Michelin man. Let me tell you, wind chills down around -12 degrees are pretty horrendous but we all made it through and thankfully it's starting to feel a little warmer. It's actually pretty funny that "warmer" just means that it feels like it's a mere 5 degrees sometimes now. Oh well.
I have a lot of work to do this weekend. The first two weeks my 18 credits were feeling pretty simple. I mean I've had no tests or anything yet... Well I had one quiz but it wasn't a big deal so I was feeling pretty good. This weekend, however, I have to read for dramatic comedy, theology, psychology, public speaking and computer lit. I also have two papers and another 4 chapters of a new book for ethnic american lit to get through by tuesday. Hopefully I'll have it all done. Bahar's going home for something this weekend so I think I'm going to take a day and just lock myself in and do work.
Bahar's birthday is next week as well so I have to finish getting everything ready for her. I'll do it this weekend since she won't be here anyway.
On that note, time to start reading or something.
Here's a picture of me and Bahar from last semester just for good measure.

Have a good week!

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 11:45 PM | Permalink

It's official, things are back in full swing. Orchestra and Esprit meetings have started which is cool. Actually I had my first Esprit meeting on Thursday and I'm really excited for the new semester. Esprit is basically the literary magazine on campus. Students can enter up to 5 pieces in any of the categories (prose, poetry, and art) and hopefully their work will make it into the magazine for the campus to enjoy. The few I've seen are awesome, and even though it's kind of nerve wracking waiting to find out if you made it, its definitely worth trying to get in. Orchestra is great too. Boga is the instructor for all of the music groups and shes hysterical. Even though I miss the beginning of House on Tuesdays, I enjoy the rehersals.
Anyway, of course there were classes all week as well... but they weren't as much fun as the other things i'm doing. I shouldn't complain, my schedule isn't [i]too [/] bad it's the homework that's obnoxious. In order to do well in your classes though you have to get through the homework so you just gotta make it through.
Speaking of homework, I should be reading a few chapters. Have a good weekend!

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 6:12 PM | Permalink

So I'm back in school and it feels like I never left. My break was nice but it's wonderful to be back. Last night Bahar and I unpacked and played a game with some friends. After we looked at pictures from her trip to Florida and went to bed. This morning I had two of my classes. At 10 I had Dramatic Comedy which seems pretty good. I have to read some plays and we're going to watch some movies and TV shows and basically compare them and learn how and why they're so funny. I've only read one of the reading requirements so far so I'm pretty excited to read the rest of the plays over the semester. After class I ate a chicken ceasar wrap (my favorite lunch here) and then walked across to St. Thomas for Computer Literacy Lab. Comp. Lit. is one of our core classes here (meaning everybody has to take it). I head heard some sob stories about this class so I was a little nervous but the lab doesn't seem bad at all. I'm not too bad with computers so hopefully I should do well. I have one more class today (Comp Lit) but not until 3 so I'm just patiently waiting and thinking about starting to read one of my plays early.
Besides the rush of starting classes, everyone seems to be going crazy over textbooks and they have every right to do so. The texts for most classes are obscenely expensive and nobody's looking forward to getting everything they need. I'm trying to get people to join a website called Chegg.com (remember that). It basically works like an eBay or Amazon. Students can buy and sell books and other things. By naming your own price you can get back more than the bookstore gives you for buying back books and hopefully buy new ones for less than the bookstore would sell them for. The nice thing about it is that you join by using your school email address so with a minimum of 10 emails Chegg automatically makes an account for your school. This means I can buy and sell books to people only from the University of Scranton and instead of paying for shipping we can just get together and exchange. It's sounding pretty nice and hopefully it will go over well.

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 1:45 PM | Permalink

How did people live without the internet? My computer and internet go crazy for a while and suddenly I'm having heart failure. I couldn't keep up with my Scranton friends who are now so far away. No email, no new music, no chatting on aim, no sifting through the ever popular facebook. So what's left?
Well for me the past few days have been filled with work and sitting. The sitting felt real nice for the first 3 or 4 days, even going back to work felt nice at first but now I'm ready to go out and enjoy myself again. I'm ready to see my friends. I'm ready to walk to the Steamtown Mall. I'm even ready to do a little work (but just a little). That's the thing with coming home for Christmas break, things are a lot different. Living under your parents' roof means its back to your parents' rules. I had only been in Scranton for 3 months but it already felt like home. You quickly get use to staying up late talking to the people in your hall or going out for something random at all hours of the morning. Coming home and coming in for curfew and dealing with certain home aspects is a little frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I love home. I love my bed, I love my shower, I love my parents, friends, boyfriend, and car. I also loved doing things on my own.
Being home again has its perks too. My mom made me coffee a few mornings. I don't have to worry about writing papers or reading before class. I don't have to wake up for anything except to go to work and make money so I can finish Christmas shopping. Things like that are nicer than you realize.
I'm really excited though because tonight I'm getting together with some friends from home (including my roommate) and 2 of the girls on my floor. I can't wait to see them! It's so funny because it's only been a week or so since everyone started separating and I feel like it's been forever. I miss them all. I got everyone's addresses and sent out some Christmas cards snail mail style (because after all, I had to do something when I couldn't go on the internet).
So now I'm going to go shower and get ready to see a few of my friends. Have a great holiday!

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 4:52 PM | Permalink

My finals are officially over!

I've made it through my first semester of college and I'm feeling pretty good. I've been studying non stop and I hope it shows when I get my grades. All the late night study-sessions sure did do a number on me though. One of my professors was saying how so many students get sick this week because they push themselves and now I totally understand. I'm ready for a 24 hour nap before functioning again.

I don't really want to go home yet though so I'm glad I have a day or two to hang around with some friends. Although going home is nice for things like sleeping in your own bed and showering without flip-flops, it also means going back to work, running all over to see everyone again, and this time I have to get a bunch of stuff out of the attic for my mom. I'm not too excited for that last part yet so being here is fine.

We're supposed to have a 24-hour-quiet-hour going on in the hall but thankfully, that totally hasn't happened. Although the day is real quiet, the night comes and everyone takes study breaks and suddenly we have a bunch of girls running around with dead brains. We even had a fashion show a few days ago.

As I said last time, I'm going to miss those girls more than anything. A few people said they would come and visit and I'm definitely going to spend some time doing a little tour for my friends as well. Thankfully my roommate, Bahar, only lives 20 minutes from me so I can get my fill whenever I'd like.

I would keep writing but I really need to sleep so maybe I'll be awake for Christmas.

Until next week,
Jenn

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 7:41 PM | Permalink

I can't believe there are less than two weeks left in my first semester of college. There are classes until Monday and then my finals are over by Wednesday and I can go home. I don't even want to go home yet.
Before I get into that though, let me introduce myself.
Well... My name is Jenn Dice and I'm a freshman here at the University of Scranton aka-the U. I'm majoring in Secondary Education and English and it's pretty cool. I'm from Blue Point which is a little town in Long Island, NY and I guess I miss it once in a while....actually that's a lie. I love it here.
Its funny thinking about my first day here back in August. Even though my roommate is my best friend from home and two of my cousins go here, I was still pretty nervous when it came to meeting my floor. Now we're all best friends. The 19 other girls on my floor and I have become real close. I guess it's easy to understand why everyone says that you stay the closest with your friends from freshman year. We were all new together so everything that we had to go through as freshman, we went through with each other. Our first papers were complained about, our first speeches were practiced, and our first tests were dreaded together. Not to mention sharing a bathroom does help. I'm going to miss my floor for the month I'm home. My classes on the other hand, I won't be thinking about again. Don't get me wrong, they weren't that bad, I'm just ready to give my brain a rest. This semester I've written more papers than I could tell you and read more than I did all throughout high school. It's not like I was a slacker either, I did real well throughout the years.
Since we've covered the basics of me, my friends, and some school work from the past, I'll bring you back to the present.
December has hit, you can't walk an inch without being somewhere Christmas-y. My floor is decorated delightfully and everyone's running around singing Christmas music-literally. To add to it all there's this giant (and I mean giant) tree up in front of Gunster. I can't help but feel like one morning I'm going to wake up and find some presents sitting beside my bed. Okay, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously the only two things I've been thinking about are Christmas and finals. Personally, I prefer Christmas but you probably want to hear more about the finals.
Most of my teachers are pretty good with giving us some general information to concentrate on so studying hasn't been so bad. In fact, I prefer my tests here to the ones in high school. Finals before were always 8 months of information while these are only 3. Although it still is a lot of information, it's a lot easier to remember stuff I learned in September right now compared to remembering it again come June.
Speaking of studying I have some more to do before I hit the sack. Keep checking back, I'm pretty interesting.
With love,
Jenn

Lastly, heres a picture to make your eyes feel good. It's me and a bunch of the girls on my floor walking to our first team volleyball game. Go Ragamuffins! haha enjoy!

Posted by Jennifer Dice at 10:58 AM | Permalink