Albertus Blog

Albertus Blog

Friday, March 29, 2013

The end will be here sooner than I think...

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Who can hear the music that they play at all graduations? Because I can and I'm trying to plug my ears because I don't want to believe that I will be graduating in 2 months!  When I think about it, I can't even believe that I will be graduating.  I feel like my time here at Albertus has flown by.  I remember being a freshman commuter student and feeling so scared because I didn't know anyone.  It's hard to believe how different I am from when I was a freshman- shy, timid, didn't want to get involved.  Now, I still am shy at times, but I am so involved and I feel that this has helped break me out of my shell.  My advice to any college freshman would be to get involved.  I think that it helps keep you organized, prioritize what you need to do, as well as make friends and have fun!  I gained so many friends from joining SGA my freshman year, and even though I don't really talk to those people anymore (they were seniors when I was a freshmen,) I think that it helped me learn where my path would be at at Albertus.  This past week, there was a Graduation Fair for all graduating seniors and graduate students.  You could purchase your cap and gown, learn some information about the Alumni Association, as well as do your financial loan exit counseling where you learn just how much loans you have taken out, how much you owe, as well as how long it will take you to pay back your loans.  Student loans are a big part about college so make sure you try not to take out too many!  You don't want to get stuck with an astronomical loan debt that you will have to pay for the rest of your life!  I would recommend trying to get as many scholarships as possible.  Search on Google and you'd be surprised to see how many grant/scholarship opportunities there are out there! I purchased my cap and gown at the Graduation Fair (picture is above) and it was bittersweet when I was doing so.  I'll be wearing my cap and gown on May 19th, 2013 and will be graduating from Albertus with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Business Management with a concentration in Marketing :)

3rd Annual Albertus Got Talent

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This past Wednesday, we held our third annual Albertus Got Talent located in the BCR of the campus center!!  This event was through the roof with excitement.  There were so many people that attended; being on SGA I have seen many events have poor attendance but this one had at least 200 people in attendance!  We had Jason LeVasseur, a singer come in and he hosted the show.  Jason has come to Albertus in the past and we thought it'd be pretty fun to have him host the show, sing some songs, and introduce our acts!  The audience really took a liking to him- he sang some of his own original songs as well as covers and the audience got into it.  We had 10 performing acts over all.  There were singers, contemporary dancers, a mime/comedian act, a drummer, a slam poet, dancers, and even sign language to a song.  I can honestly say that I think everyone did a great job.  I give them a lot of credit going up in front of so many people and performing their talent. We had 3 judges:  Pedro Suncar, who is an alum of the college as well as the Graduate Intern for Residential Life and an Assistant Hall Director, Stefanie Seslar who works in Alumni office, and Stefanie's husband.  The three judges helped decide who the winner would be, however at the end of the show, students were allowed to tweet at @Albertus_Talent and tweet the number of the act that they wanted to win!  It was something different, many students participated in the tweeting action and I think it definitely helped with deciding who the top 3 winners would be.  We even had different contests going on throughout the show.  At one point, we had a dance battle with 4 girls, and who ever danced the best, won money.  The audience decided on who the winner would be.  We also had a rap battle between this girl Amber and a boy named Tre.  It was so funny to see them rapping against each other and Amber actually ended up winning.  My favorite act was the last one, a group of dancers who danced to a mix of different songs.  It seemed like the audience loved them- their dance was at least 10 minutes long.  In third place came Erin Boyd, who is an RA and performed a song.  Second place went to Rob Augustine who performed poetry that he created himself.  The first place winner was the last act, the dancers!
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Amber and Tre rapping against each other
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Jason LeVasseur performing a song

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Mod 4


 


So I have officially started my second MBA class in Mod 4 at Albertus. The class is called Human Resources in Management.  In this class I'll be learning about ethical dilemmas in the work place such as discrimination, unlawful acts, violence in the work place and compensation.  Because the mods are so much shorter than semester (8 weeks each,) we already chose on the first day what our research papers and presentations would be.  Before the class started, I read through the syllabus and found that I would be doing a 30-45 minute presentation!! We all know how much I love doing presentations (not,) so I emailed the professor and told him my worries.  He was so nice about it and it turns out that because there are so many people in the class, I would only have to do a 15-20 minute presentation!  Even though I still hate presenting, I can handle a 15 minute presentation, especially because I could use videos and other media outsources to present my case.  I have decided to focus on discrimination and how it ties into the work place.  I know many retail stores do discriminate based upon looks, so I know I will be able to found law suits and cases that will support my case.  Once again, I'm the youngest one in the class, making it a little intimidating.  Everyone has real world experience and has a "real" job while I still work at a retail job.  I just have to keep telling myself that it will be worth it in the end! 

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Spring Break 2013


Helllllo all!! I am back from Spring Break and tan as ever 8o).  This year was the first "official" spring break I have ever been on!  I went to Miami, Florida with 7 other girls!  3 of the girls are RA's while the others are close friends.  The trip was planned very last minute, but we had the time of our lives.  I've been so depressed the past few days because I want to go back so bad!  The weather was SO warm, in the 70's and 80's almost every single day.  We left last Thursday and arrived that night.  We stayed for 6 days and came back Wednesday night.  If you visit Miami, there are some hot spots that you need to stop at.
We stopped by the tattoo shop Miami Ink.  This tattoo shop was made popular after the hit television show on TLC.  Kat Von D, a famous tattoo artist was on the show and made the show a success.  Even though she doesn't work there now, it was pretty cool to take a peek in and see where the show was filmed.

We also stopped by the shop DASH Miami located on Washington Avenue, a long strip in South Beach with many shops and restaurants.  Did you know that there are only 3 main streets with clubs, restaurants & entertainment for tourists and everything else in South Beach is residential?  DASH Miami is one of the stores owned by the Kardashian sisters.  Being a big fan, I stopped in to see what they had.  I have already visited the DASH store in New York, so everything was pretty much the same ( and way over priced as well!)  I didn't buy anything, but it was cool to stop in and take a look.


On one day, the girls I was rooming with and I decided to go on a day tour.  The tour included a city tour, where we were driven around in a bus and learned some facts about the city of Miami, a boat tour of downtown Miami where we saw Star Island, a famous island in South Beach where the celebrities live, and also went to the Everglades!  The first picture was taken at the Everglades where we saw lots of alligators!  I've never been so close to an alligator before and it was amazing to go on the boat and be so close to them.  Above is a mansion that we saw on the boat tour.  The mansions on Star Island are huge!! The one above is a picture of P.Diddy's mansion, however some famous celebrities that live on this island include Gloria Estefan, Julio Iglesias, Shaq, Vanilla Ice, and you can even rent a house for $2,000 a day!

On Ocean Drive, there's lots of restaurants and clubs on that strip.  We stopped at a famous local spot called Mango's.  Mango's is a restaurant during the day time and at night, turns into a club.  At around 8:30 pm, they start checking ID's so if you're not 21, they will kick you out!  We stopped at Mango's 2 nights because it was so much fun!  They have live entertainment every 15 minutes.  The picture above is of some of the bartenders dancing to a song.  All of the bartenders that work there perform at least once during the night whether it be dancing a routine or singing.  They also play a lot of Latin music, and a lot of the locals go here to have some fun.  The first night we went as a group, but the next day, only me and a co-RA Emily decided to go.  We left our hotel at 12:30 am and didn't get back until 5:15 am!  It's crazy how much the nightlife is different down there.  You don't start going to the clubs until 12 am where as here in CT, you go out at around 9 pm and the clubs close at around 1 or 2 am.  After going to the clubs down there, I don't think anything will ever compare.  I really did have the time of my life, especially at Mango's, so if you go to South Beach, Mango's is a must!  Yummy food, yummy drinks and overall a good time :)


Visiting the beach of Miami is a must! The water is so crystal blue and you could see right through it.  I wish the ocean up here in CT could be like it!  It's always breezy on the beach so you never feel too hot at once.  Make sure you wear your sun screen though- you don't want to be like me and get sun poisoning the first day you are there!


The last day we were in Miami, there was a Victoria's Secret PINK party!  It was held at a hotel right off the beach and we were able to stop by by showing a text message we received.  Being able to go to this dance party was the one of the best parts about our trip.  We received free PINK beach towels and while leaving, received a free mini speaker amplifier which makes the music on your iPhone louder.  There was a ton of people there, including the boy who plays Peeta in the Hunger Games and even 2 Victoria's Secret models!  We even participated in a huge Harlem Shake video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDMqVrcxuY4

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Make Things Happen!

 


I officially finished my first MBA class and it's a great feeling!! It's not that I didn't believe in myself that I couldn't do it because I knew I could do it- however with 4 other course loads it's a lot to handle!  Everyone in the MBA program is older and they are only taking 2 courses at a time leaving them ample amount of time to get all their work done.  Me on the other hand- I HAVE to stay on top of my game in order to make sure I get everything done!  It's such a great feeling knowing that I have one class done because there have been people that have told me that I wouldn't be able to handle it.  When people said this to me, it did hurt me, however on the other hand I used this as my motivation to keep pushing myself and prove them wrong! That's exactly what I did because I ended up with and A in the course!  I'm not one to boast about myself, but it's a good feeling knowing that in a year I will have my masters and also I'm making my parents proud by completing the 5 year MBA program.  My advice to people that feel let down when people tell you you can't do something- don't listen to them.  People are always going to try and put you down however if you know what you want with your life, you're going to keep pushing and prove them wrong! It's always a good feeling to know that you proved someone wrong even if you don't say it out loud.  So pat yourself on the back because you deserve it! 

Sunday, March 3, 2013

SURVIVOR: AMC Edition!



This past Saturday, The RA's put on their second event of the year:  Survivor: AMC Edition.  This event was held in the Behan Community Room (BCR) located in the Campus Center.  We had teams of 3 come down and battle each other which left the crowd asking:  is it better to be the best team, or the best on the team?  Different components were applied to this game:  memory, agility, stamina, balance, knowledge and accuracy.  When signing up, each team member had to choose 2 components that they believe they would be good at, however they did not know what task they would be given.  3 teams competed against each other at first.  Each station had a different task according to what component you signed up for.  The first task was to walk a line with a book on your head.  The next one was a matching game where you had to match playing cards together.  The next task was to stack Solo cups on top of each other having at least 7 cups on the bottom.  The next task was to throw 6 balls into a bucket while standing a reasonable distance away from them.  The next task was to pick up an envelope and there would be an exercise that needed to be done whether it be 20 push ups, 50 jumping jacks or 50 sit ups.  The last task in the first round was to answer Albertus facts correctly.  The tasks that I did in the first round were throwing the balls into the bucket and answering the Albertus facts (thanks to my tour guide knowledge!)  3 teams were eliminated the first round because their times were not fast enough  The next round was more difficult.  We had to put a basketball in between our knees and walk to the next partner, and without using our hands, transfer the basketball into our partners knees! You could tell how this looked..  The second task was to put a spook in your mouth facing out.  An egg was placed onto the spoon and with only having 2 fingers on the spoon, transfer the egg onto your teammates spoon without using your hands!  It was pretty difficult and thankfully no one dropped their eggs.  The last task in this round was to sit in a line, one behind the other.  I was shown a picture of a sun and I had to "draw" it on the back of the person in front of me.  He had to draw it on the back of the person in from of him and that person had to draw it on a  piece of paper.  Whatever picture looked closest to the one I was shown, passed.  Unfortunately, my team was not fast enough and we got disqualified.  The last round had a twist to it.  The winning team all won $25.  Now, they were challenged against each other and had to complete the first round by themselves.  The last part of that round, they had to chug ice cold water which led to major brain freeze.  The winner of that round won an additional $25.  This event was something different & something we've never done before but I believe the participants enjoyed themselves.

AMC Dodgeball Tournament

On Friday, March 1st, we had our very first Dodgeball Tournament at Albertus!  This event was sponsored by SGA and allowed students to sign up with teams of 7 to play against other teams.  The sign up sheets went up in the dining hall a week before hand and people signed up.  The event was held in the Athletic Center, something that we don't usually do.  Our events are usually held in the campus Pub so it was nice to change it up a little.  Over all, we had 6 teams sign up and the way the game was designed, one team had to beat all of the other teams in order to win.  Each person on the winning team received $20.  Ultimately, a team with the baseball boys one!  It was kind of cool to watch the baseball team and the soccer team play against each other since they have an "unspoken rivalry" between each other but overall it was all good fun!  Some of the pictures below were taken during the event.
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We had 2 referees, Matt Brancaccio and Erika Blechert, who supervised the games


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Many spectators came along to watch the fun
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The Baseball and Soccer team "battling" each other