Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

The Day After

Posted on by
Reply

Big News: My acceptance letter for my study abroad came today! I’M GOING TO BELGIUM!!

But this post is about what I did on Black Friday. Quickly, for anyone thinking about visiting Boston: 1. Go to Harvard Square and take in all the smart people. 2. Go to a Red Sox game; Bruins and Celtics aren’t the same, Patriots is too expensive. 3. Get a cannoli from Mike’s Pastries in the North End. 4. Understand that the North End is directly south of East Boston. Also South Boston is directly east of the South End. The South End and South Boston are both north of the geographic center of Boston. 5. Ride the T. It’s cheap and fairly quick, and helps you discover new muscles. 6. Climb the Bunker Hill Monument. It’s the Washington Monument for northerners. 7. Go to Fanueil Hall and watch YAK (You Already Know), a group of dancers that performs pretty much 365 days per year. They are pretty good performers but excellent businessmen. 8. Eat a burrito at Boca Grande Tacqueria and then one from Anna’s Tacqueria and compare. They both have multiple locations and are owned by two Chinese siblings that have become such competitors, they no longer speak to one another. 9. Find two places in your favorite Boston movie. I know pretty where everything in The Town was shot, and my brother once found the house used in Good Will Hunting. 10. Find the tombs of 5 famous people. Robby and I found John Hancock, Paul Revere, and Sam Adams in about three minutes. We also found the Sam Adams brewery, but it’s only 4 blocks from my house.

I hope everybody gained 5 pounds, because I know I did. (Only half joking, I had a lot of pie.) Black Friday is supposed to be a day of shopping, but my family has our own traditions instead. My friend and I were (rudely? sadly? predictably?) awoken at 9:00 AM, and we thought we smelled bacon. Nope. Just meatballs in the oven. So we ate cereal and headed out to The Christmas Place, “The Largest Christmas Store in New England.” Every year they are open only from October through Christmas Eve, and they sell anything anyone could ever want that has to do with Christmas – except, (unfortunately? sadly? predictably?) nothing with the name “Barnabas” on it.

We bought a few ornaments and wreaths, and then headed out to our favorite location: the Blue Hills. If you like nature and are visiting Boston, please, please go for a hike in the Blue Hills. They are close to the city, they are forested, and they are beautiful. We went for a hike, built a fire and roasted hot dogs, and climbed a few trees and a particularly large boulder. In the summer I earn myself some extra money by lifeguarding at one of the lakes in the area, and in the winter we skate there too! Sometimes, if we’re lucky, there will be a friendly ice fisherman that will let us real in a fish with him.

Finally we came home, ate the spaghetti and meatballs (not bacon) Mom had prepared, and sat back to watch Elf. If you’ve never seen Elf, go see it. It’s one of the best Christmas movies ever and it’s both funny and touching. One of my toughest fraternity brothers says Elf is his favorite movie. My 26 year old sister says its in her top 5. Somehow, my parents had never seen it, so we helped them enjoy it by explaining the parts their old ears couldn’t hear. (Yes, they’re old: Thanksgiving Day was their 32nd anniversary!). Finally we played Bananagrams (our new favorite game) and did a little homework. Thanksgiving was fun; so was Black Friday.

 

Share

Thanksgiving Break

Posted on by
Reply

I hope every had a great Thanksgiving yesterday!

I’ve only ever traveled home once in these past four years for Thanksgiving, and after the expensive flights and too short trip, I realized it wasn’t really worth it when the semester ends just two weeks after break. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely miss my family and if there were any time of year when I wished I lived closer to school, it would be this one.

However, I always find a million and one things to do during the break and it always goes by so fast. On both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings I went out with my roommate Stacey from Hanover and her friends. It’s convenient that she only lives 25 minutes away because it means I’m never really alone. She also invited me to spend Thanksgiving with her family but I have never liked intruding on such a family-based holiday.

Instead, I got to relax. I spent the day watching football, reading a book, and lounging in bed. I got to FaceTime my family as well, which is my new favorite Thanksgiving tradition. I especially liked seeing my grandparents and my cat!

I spent today (Friday) tackling my massive to-do list and actually accomplishing a good amount of it. I have a variety of things to do, not only for the end of the semester, but also for the Free Press. It’s nice working without distractions like classes, meetings, or roommates.

I like having a break to myself because I am completely free to do what makes me happy for a couple days, which is definitely rare in my life. While my friends and family used to worry about me during these five days, now they understand that is just me recharging and getting ready for the end of the semester.

Share

I Am Thankful: McDaniel Edition

Posted on by
Reply

Over the past few years, I’ve come to realize that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. I love the combination of lots of great food and lots of great family, and it’s a really warm, cozy, and fun holiday. I’ve also taken time over the last few years to reflect in writing about what I am thankful for each Thanksgiving, and I would like to share with you all of the McDaniel things I am thankful for this year.

  • I am so very thankful to be having such an incredible semester. I’m taking great classes with fabulous professors, and I live with such wonderful people.
  • I’m thankful that my suite mates are not just the people I live with but have also become my friends. I could not have imagined my suite being such a family unit, and I am truly blessed that we are.
  • I’m thankful to have strengthened my relationships with some of my friends who live outside of my suite. I am so lucky to have so many great people to rely on.
  • I’m thankful that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone a little to take a badminton class. My physical education requirement is now a quarter of the way done, and I got to learn badminton and get to know some people within my major because I took the class.
  • I’m thankful to have some great opportunities coming my way next semester. My schedule looks pretty good at the moment, and I’m adding in a course about working in the Writing Center and working on a presentation about Harry Potter and the Hero’s Journey to present in April at a Jungian conference.
  • I am thankful for the ever-supportive and amazing faculty at McDaniel College.
  • I’m thankful that in three weeks, the semester will be over. I’m going to miss this semester a lot, but after all of the stress that the next few weeks are going to bring, I’ll be so glad for things to wrap up so I can go home for a little extended down time before I get to return to McDaniel for Jan Term!

Lastly, I’m thankful to have such a great job at Admissions blogging for you guys, the prospective students. I truly enjoy sharing my stories, and I hope that some or any of the posts on this blog have helped you get a feel for what McDaniel is like.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful, and I hope you’ll remember to be thankful too!

Share

Home Alone In Boston Is Not So Alone After All

Posted on by
Reply

Of course we all look forward to Thanksgiving Break here on the Hill. Though we love our campus and friends dearly, we also love a few days without class and a fantastic home-cooked meal. I chose to spend the break with my friend Barnabas in Boston. I saw it as a chance to meet some new people and explore a new city, but I didn’t think it would changed the way I viewed myself as a McDaniel Student or McDaniel as a whole.

We left at 7pm after classes on Tuesday and arrived at Barney’s house in Boston at 3am Wednesday morning. After sleeping for most of the morning on Wednesday, I awoke to meet both of Barney’s parents and enjoy a delicious breakfast that made Glar pale in comparison.  However, there was a feeling I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I felt like a Cowboys fan in the middle of a pack of Redskins’ fans at the game on Thursday (Go Skins!), and I realized it was because I was not with my family on this holiday for the first time in nineteen years.

Living only an hour away from my home at school, I see my parents plenty. Still, there is something very nerve racking about breaking a tradition you had not realized the importance of; then add the feeling of lost in a big city and you have an early nineties Christmas movie. (Home Alone 2, best Christmas movie ever right?)

Later in the day Barney and I went into the city to see the historic sites which put me in a better mood. My mom is a huge fan of American history as was my grandfather; so if there was any acceptable way to spend Thanksgiving away from my mom, it was to spend it looking at important pieces of history like the burial grounds of John Hancock, John Adams, and Paul Revere. Touring, what locals call, the “North End,” which to this day embodies the image of colonial Boston complete with crooked streets, alleyways that you have to turn sideways to walk through, and the Boston Harbor  all these sites representing the precursors of the ensuing fight that would allow our nation its freedom.

All this time I had been wearing my McDaniel College hoodie to proudly represent where I come from just as Boston boasts a proud history of brave men. And it was just as we were outside of Paul Revere’s house on North Street that I was stopped by a guy shouting “Hey! Do you go to McDaniel College in Westminster?” Of course I said yes,and the guy proceeded to tell me that he was an alumnus of the school. He had attended McDaniel back in the eighties. He described in detail how Red Square used to be a parking lot, and what it was like to have Gill Gym only be composed of the single gym brick building we refer to as old Gill these days. He told me his time at McDaniel was the best of his life and that he wouldn’t trade it even for a free tour of Paul Revere’s house (okay so I made that up, but good lord the house looked so cool and tours were so expensive).

It was so cool to encounter randomly someone who had attended and graduated from McDaniel, a student body of about 1700 students, in such a large city with over 600,000 people. I didn’t feel so homesick after that because I realized that home is all around. At McDaniel, a huge part of your education is to make you a citizen of the world. I’ve never been out of the country, but I can definitely say that I feel as though I am quickly becoming a part of a great community of alumni and students in this country and that when I wear my McDaniel hoodie I am home as far as I’m concerned.

Share

Keeping the Fun Alive

Posted on by
Reply

Things tend to get hectic in the days leading up to Thanksgiving through the rest of the semester. In fact, you could say that Thanksgiving is like the eye of a storm–a calm in the middle surrounded by chaos.

Despite the fact that the end of the semester is typically a stressful time (as I’m sure you can imagine), it’s important to continue to take some time for yourself to relax, do fun things, and spend time with friends.

The fun in my life has definitely been kept alive this week, particularly yesterday when we had our annual Thanksgiving lunch in Glar. Thanksgiving lunch is one of my favorite meals of the year. Turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and other delicious food is served buffet style, and for dessert, they’re all sorts of pie, cake, and cheesecake to choose from. Glar is packed with students, faculty, and staff looking to unwind and have a nice meal. This coming together and festivity makes me feel all warm and happy inside. I can’t wait to do it all over again in a few weeks when we have our annual holiday lunch.

There must have been pie left over from lunch because in the afternoon, Dr. Roger Casey, our college president, got pied in the face (twice!). In actuality, he got pied because his name raised the most money in a fundraiser for the Vagina Monologues, in which students and other members of the college community donated money into bags with the names of members of our administration. The person whose bag received the most money got pied. Our Dean of Student Affairs also got a cupcake to the face for coming in second place. Both she and Dr. Casey were really got sports about it, and it was for a great cause. Dr. Casey even seemed to enjoy it and said that the coconut cream pie tasted good.

I’ll continue to make sure I enjoy myself over the next few days. Eventually, some of my friends will come over tonight and we’ll probably watch Monty Python’s Flying Circus or something else silly. We might also watch some Star Wars this weekend too, since we watched the prequel trilogy last weekend. But I won’t let the Star Wars conflict with going to see Danger Sauce, McDaniel’s improv troupe on Saturday night. Members of Gettysburg College’s improv troupe are also coming to do the show with them, and the proceeds of this show will go to charity. I’m interested in seeing how the two troupes interact and perform with each other, and I’m glad this event will be fun for all for a good cause!

Share