Time to Study

It’s that dreaded time again; finals week. This week is so stressful because there is so much resting on the last grade for the class to find out if you will be able to save or drop your GPA. Although I prefer taking a test over writing a paper, either option is stressful. Finals at St. Michael’s College start Friday, and if you haven’t started to stress or study, here are some tips to help during this awful week.

On to the Tips:

• Take a break to allow your mind to absorb all of the information you just learned.
• Start your work early so you don't feel stressed right before it's due.
• If your professor doesn't give you a study guide for an exam, look through the syllabus to summarize the most important terms from each day.
• Find a buddy to study with and quiz each other to help remember the material better.
• Read through the book, then take notes so you don't get distracted.
• Some studies say to chew cinnamon gum to get better test grades. If you don't like gum, do something consistent for studying.
• Start to study for exams early so you are able to retain more information during the exam.
• When the academic buildings are open, study in the room you learned all of the information in. You are already familiar with the environment.
• Take some time to spend by yourself when you aren't studying or taking breaks. You'll find that when you do this the studying becomes easier. I usually enjoy longboarding.
• Use the resources around you to help de-stress from this week. It is crazy for everyone and there are people to assist in getting away from the stress.

I don't often chew cinnamon, but I do enjoy gum.

With the weather so bad and having no time I had to resort to longboarding inside.

When I first heard of finals in eighth grade, I cringed at the fact that I would have to remember everything I learned the whole year in a period of a couple of hours. I still sometimes cringe at that fact. This year, with the classes I have, I only have two in-class sit down finals. One is on Friday, the first day of finals, and the other is on Saturday. I don’t mind having a final on Saturday because that means I’m done much sooner and the stress will be over.

The other added stress of finals in the spring semester is packing up your room to go home for the summer. If finals weren’t stressful enough, by 6 p.m. the day of your last final you must be moved out of your room. This summer I am staying up in Vermont for an internship and a job working for the Applied Linguistic department for St. Mike’s. I need to pack for three different ways: clothes I need to bring home for the summer, clothes I need to have accessible for the summer in Vermont, and clothes and everything else that don’t need to be out until the fall semester. This will be fun packing everything up by then.

As I said in last week's blog it was P-Day (click here if you want to read it), this year I couldn't follow all of my tips because the weather was not as great as in previous years. It was overcast and raining most of the day, but that didn't stop me from enjoying a large part of the day. Instead of using sunblock, I used a clear garbage bag made into a poncho. I still enjoyed so much food especially the Ben and Jerry's ice cream, I had three cones worth. Every day can be a great day even if it's raining, it's the amount of fun you put into it that makes all of the difference.

Clear ponchos still allow to see the awesome shirts. Happy Birthday Jennifer.

In this picture left to right: DJ Q, Lauren, Cait. 

We all still enjoyed the day even though the weather tried to stop us from enjoying it.

One Last Thing:

If you couldn’t tell by the information about finals, this is going to be the last week that I am at school and the last blog for the semester. I hope that all of you enjoyed reading the tips for this semester with the new format of having all of the tips related to one another in some way. It has been fun thinking up tips to share, but it is not as much fun as telling them over the radio and explaining how they have related to my life. What I’m trying to get here is that I want to do my show next semester. I am going to try to my best to have my schedule and homework allow for me to come back to you live from the WWPV studio. I cannot guarantee that my classes will allow for it, but I will do my best. For now, have a wonderful summer and hopefully you’ll hear my voice again soon. 

Keep SMCing,

DJ Q

P-DAY and Everything You Need to Know About It

When you enter St. Mike’s as a freshman, talk about P-Day comes along and it is such a new and exciting thing to find out for the first time. P-Day, or Preparation Day, is a day that St. Mike’s puts all things fun into one day for everyone to enjoy. Whether you are going to experience P-Day for the first time this year or are going into it with prior knowledge, these tips are sure to help to have a great day.

On to the tips:

• Make shirts with your friends. 
• The food tent can be entered as many times as you want, so take advantage of that. There is so much good food to be eaten. 
• If you want to make some money that day, the Student Association offers some paid volunteer positions, so make sure to sign up if you want to make some money.
• Put on sunblock to prevent sunburn. The whole day is spent outside, as long as the weather is decent.
• Attend every part of the day. 
• With the new changes being made, embrace them; it's better to have a shortened P-Day than no P-Day at all.
• P-Day stands for Preparation Day, so make sure you prepare for a day of fun.
• With all of the fun activities going on, make sure that if you get split from your friends you have a way to meet up with them, via phones or meeting location.
• Try to stay up for Mid-Knight breakfast; you won't have too many opportunities to eat in Alliot at midnight.
• After the wonderful day of fun, make sure to get a good "knight’s" sleep.

I matched with my friends and got "Bows Before Bros" lacrosse pennies. P-Day 2013

Picking up trash while making money and photo bombing pictures. P-Day 2012

Make sure to put on sunblock to avoid the post P-Day sunburn. Pre P-Day 2014

My freshman year I decided I wanted to make $100 on P-Day as a way to enjoy the day and still make some money. As a freshman it was a good decision because I did not know what to expect. I didn’t have to do too much work for the amount I was paid, but it did not allow me to be able to be as free to do all of the activities that I would have wanted to do. My sophomore year I decided not to work at P-Day and I enjoyed it so much more. I was able to go around to the food tent and eat many kinds of different foods from the area. It also allowed time to be with my friends for the day.

During the day there are many structured events for students to enjoy. At the start of the day there is a trike race where teams of 4 compete and race around a course. Then the day moves into my favorite part: a food tent and bouncy houses. You would not think that those two combined would work, but they do. Each year over 10 vendors from the Burlington area come and set up their food for us to enjoy. With all of the different options, the combinations are endless. The bouncy houses are also a great touch to the day because I feel like a kid again. After dinnertime, we have some form of entertainment for the night, usually a comedian or act. Last year we had a sword swallower/mind reader. Finally, the day ends with a Mid-“Knight” breakfast. The day is enjoyable for all who attend. I enjoy all of the activities. Since it is the end of the year, I know I’m going to be leaving my friends soon; P-Day makes for a great day to relax with your friends before leaving for summer. 

It was such a great day last year and I had to take a selfie. P-Day 2013

One Last Thing:

This Friday, the day before P-Day, is our last game against Middlebury. We are playing on our home turf at 4 p.m. To celebrate the “Spring Weekend,” St. Mike’s will be having a BBQ on the 300’s field, along the sidelines of where we’re playing. Come on over and support your favorite team and have a burger while you watch us play. It should hopefully be a beautiful day and a great way to end the semester off well.

Keep SMCing,

DJ Q

P. S. I want to give a shout out to my Editor In Chief, Sharon, for editing all of my blogs. If it wasn’t for her reading through all of my mistakes, I wouldn’t be able to have such great grammar and spelling!