Well, this past week I have spent more time at Temple than anywhere else. I've had to get a lot of things done with my apartment and everything. I'm moving in on Sunday so I had to get the lease situated and set up all of the utilities and whatnot so that was a trip. Everything is good to go now. Only one of my roommates had to still hand in her lease and then I can get my keys! I'm pretty excited. Now I don't have to keep driving back and forth when I go down to visit, I have somewhere to stay. So, I'll be moving in on Sunday and then after that my old roommate Ann and I are going to the Ingrid Michaelson concert. My guess is you haven't heard of her..she sings some of the Old Navy commercials. I'm pretty excited for that. Ann's going to meet me at Temple, we'll do lunch, head down to South Street on the subway to the TLA and then she's going to stay over at my new place!

On Tuesday I went on a retreat with the Executive Board for the Newman Center. We went to this really nice retreat house where we planned out the upcoming semester. There were a lot of great ideas that were shared. It's looking to be a good year. We're even talking about a spring break trip to Rome or Israel for a pilgrimage! The retreat itself was great. The place we stayed at had a lot of open area to roam (and a lot of caterpillars). Some one decided it would be a great idea to take a hike in the woods at 10 at night to find a Mary statue. Seeing as though I'm terrified of the dark, that didn't go over to well with me. But I survived...barely. Here are a few pictures from the retreat... More or less of the nature that I saw there, I tried being a photographer.

So tomorrow I have to get up early to meet my cousin and my goddaughter at the playground for some quality family bonding! Time to bring out the kid in me. So, I guess I should get to sleep. Hope your weekend is off to a great start!

"If you follow the crowd, you might get lost in it"

Posted by Courtney Clarahan at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, the first week of summer has been great! There's been a few great going away parties so far and I went to my friend Pawel's graduation party last night! Today was commencement for Temple! I'm going to miss a lot of the seniors that I formed relationships with!!

Any who, last nights party was interesting. It was at Pawel's house but it was also a graduation party for two of his friends so I didn't know the majority of the people there. His house is in West Philly, near Drexel, and it was gorgeous!! I could have easily gotten lost. I didn't stay too long because I had to hop the subway back but it was a good time...
Here's me and Pawel

Theresa, Me and Gab..future roommates!

And I forgot to put up pictures from the BBQ. That was a great time. The food was absolutely awesome! I just love sitting outside and talking and laughing. At one point, Alex and Jozef were making animal shadows on the wall with their hands and they were very creative I must say.
Just a few of the people at the BBQ..I'm not sure what they are looking at

So it is safe to say that summer has officially started! What am I doing with myself all summer? Well, so far, I think I've been at Temple more than I've been a home. A lot of my friends are staying for the summer so I always go and visit them. I just can't get enough of Temple! It's really my second home. I'm moving in to my new apartment on June 1st so I plan on being down there a lot more. I don't start babysitting until maybe mid June when the girls I babysit are done school. I was offered an internship this summer but I had to decline because I'm going to be very busy and I can't fully commit to one just yet. They are going to hold it for me until the fall so I will pick it up then. It sounds really great. I basically get to plan trips for all Eagles fans that want to go to their away games and make sure all the flight and hotel reservations are secured and that kind of stuff. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy my summer!

I'm also going to Mexico July 12th...but I don't want to get too excited just yet!

"God gives us our relatives - thank God we can choose our friends."
- Ethel Watts Mumford

Posted by Courtney Clarahan at 6:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, it's all over!

I was so worried about all of my finals but I did pretty good on them. I was up studying till about 2 or 3 every night to be absolutely sure I knew the material as well as I could. I also had to give a final presentation in my Leisure in a Diverse Society class that I was so worried about cause my group hadn't really met a lot to practice what we were going to say. I felt alright about it afterwards but then my professor sent me an email saying I was very energetic and my presentation was one of the best all day. It was such a relief and so great to hear!

The final I was most worried about was accounting. I never had studied so long in my life. My roommate Ann and I almost pulled an all-nighter that night. I just re-wrote problem after problem to ensure I could get it right. And it paid off! Of course Ann and I took random dancing breaks and ate almost everything that was left in the kitchen but it was so worth it!

Sophomore year was a great one and I will miss it! So many memories and new friendships formed. My favorite class was definitely Leisure in a Diverse Society. I learned a great deal of information not only pertaining to Tourism and Hospitality, but to life in general.

I still haven't unpacked and I've been home for 3 days now. I was down at Temple last night just because I missed it already! And, I'm going back in a few hours for a BBQ with all my friends. Many pictures to come I'm sure. So summer has officially started for me and I an now a Junior! Time flies let me tell you! I guess I should start unpacking and find clothes to wear later! Enjoy the day!

"Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress."
- Nicholas Murray Butler

Posted by Courtney Clarahan at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's a study day and I'm not sure why I'm up this early! I have a lot I need to get done to prepare for my finals! I just finished my last paper the other day! It was such a relief and so freeing. But, I sitll have 5 finals!

My final for my Leisure in a Diverse Society class is to teach the class through a training module. I may have mentioned this before but my groups is doing gender relations in the workplace. We are going to talk about our learning objectives and they propose 3 different scenarios to get the class involved. We have different roles on index cards that they will need to portray to basically show what not to do in the workplace. And then my group is going to teach the class what really should be done in those cases. It has to be a 20 minute presentation! My group is meeting today to finalize everything so I hope it goes smoothly.

Tomorrow is my work party with all of the Owl Ambassadors. I'm sure I'll have a ton of great pictures from that, We're all taking a bus to Fairmount Park for a BBQ. I'm going to make dirt for dessert. It should be a great time. Then I really need to get cracking on the books for my remaining 4 finals! It will be so nice when it's over, but I'm going to miss sophomore year! I can't believe I'll be a junior. Your college years go by so fast! Make the most of them.

I've actually got to work on my presentation some more for tomorrow so I'll leave it at that for now. Highlights from the party will come soon. Enjoy the weather!!

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do."
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Posted by Courtney Clarahan at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well well well,

It is almost the end of school. Just 10 days left. Sophomore had been a hard but good one that's for sure. This is pretty much the wrap up week to get everything in order for finals. Tomorrow is my last day of class, but I also have my IH paper due. It should be pretty easy. It's based on nature so my beach trip will incorporate well. I've got one more paper due this week, and 2 finals! One of them is a group presentation called a diversity training module. My group is teaching the class about gender relations in the workplace.

This weekend was great! Saturday was one of my best friends birthday. So, Friday night, Bridget, Jackie, Karen and myself went to the Cheesecake Factory and had a delicious meal. Followed but an amazing banana cream cheesecake! Then we went to see Made of Honor. Great movie! We had such a blast, I never laughed so hard in my life. Here is all of us at the Cheesecake Factory...

Then on Saturday a huge group of us went to the Temple Women's Rugby game to watch Bridget play on her birthday. We made signs and were obnoxiously loud haha. But she loved it. And they won! Afterwards we had a BBQ for her and just all sat around and had a great time. I got to decorate the brownies. I'm pretty amazed at my skill. Martha Stewart should watch out. Here's the gang...

Then yesterday, as part of my volunteer assignment in my one tourism class, I went down to the equality forum and helped out with their BBQ last night. It was actually a really great experience. But now I have to write a paper on it! I'm going to be quite busy for a while.

Let's hope this week is a great one!

"You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you've collected a lot of empty yesterdays."
- Professor Harold Hill (The Music Man)

Posted by Courtney Clarahan at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today marks a milestone. Well, somewhat. My Tuesday/Thursday classes are over! And I am soooo thrilled. I had my Leisure in a Diverse Society final today and I think I did pretty good. i was up until about 2am studying. I just had to get the off my chest! It's such a relief!

I need to get back to work, I'll continue this soon...

Posted by Courtney Clarahan at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)