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 This weekend, three of my best friends are in the Centennial Conference Championships for swimming at Gettysburg College. For those who do not know, college swimming is one of the most, if not the most, intense seasons in collegiate athletics. My friends officially started the season in October, trained over winter break, and are finally swimming their last meet of the season in late February. This post is my version of bragging — I was able to watch yesterday’s swims online through the live streaming, and each one of the swim team members performed incredibly.
Swim meets are not usually known for their high attendance rates. However, at McDaniel, the stands are pretty full with parents, siblings, and McDaniel friends. President Casey even shows up to meets during the season! McDaniel students are fantastic about showing their support and school spirit; our swim team is one of the best representatives of this McDaniel quality.
At every meet, each McDaniel teammate stands and cheers for the entire meet. McDaniel is the only team that does this and I always love how McDaniel swimmers never cease in their enthusiasm and support. I have seen my friends exhausted from the hours of challenging workouts and cannot wait to see how they will swim for the rest of the swim meet.
If you are interested in looking at the results, or even watching some of the races, here is a link to keep you up to date in the McDaniel swimming world:
http://www.centennial.org/sports/mswim/index
 I am originally from California, and my mother recently called to inform me that the temperature in my hometown is 75 degrees Fahrenheit. I looked at my WeatherChannel app and found that in Westminster, the low temperature for the day is -1. Whether or not this is accurate, I label anything below 40 degrees as too cold.
So, in order to prepare for the predicted week of cold, here are some activities that my friends and I do during snow days.
1. Watch movies. Definitely a classic and somewhat unoriginal, but my friend group loves to make forts and have themed movie days. My roommate and I host mini marathons such as “Cageathon,” (movies with Nicolas Cage, also my roommate’s favorite theme) “Cryathons,” (Les Mis is always included) and “Disney Animals” (self-explanatory).
2. Banana and peanut butter ice cream. While it is freezing outside, we enjoy to gather snow and make this simple two-ingredient ice cream while watching Law and Order or Criminal Minds.
3. Applications. While sledding or movie marathons are preferred, snow days provide the perfect opportunity to get ahead on work and applications. I enjoy these application days as they significantly reduce my stress levels for the upcoming week.
4. Game days. After completing several applications, it is always nice to take a break and play a game of cards or a fun board game with a group of friends. The games quickly become competitive and pretty intense.
These are some of my favorite snow day traditions, but in all honesty, I do miss my classes when we have snow days. I enjoy all of my courses this semester and easily become confused when the syllabi are rearranged after a snow day. However, if we do have snow, I will make the most out of the day!
 See’s Candy all the way from Cali! Valentine’s Day is such a big event for me that I could not fit it all into one post so here is part one of my Valentine’s Day experience. On Friday, I received a package from home that had California candy in it which made my day. I love See’s Candy! If you are ever in California, I suggest stopping there. I also got a pair of heart earrings which I wore for the party that night.
Lots of people take Valentine’s Day to either be with their significant other or to hate on couples, but I like to have parties. I had the party a day early this year because I threw it for my residents, and I figured they would be off campus on Saturday. We had sweets and drinks. We played a really fun board game called Quelf. It’s so goofy, but we all enjoyed it.
 My residents playing Quelf I stayed up late playing Taboo with two of my residents after the crowd thinned out. Afterwards, I went upstairs to my suite and play Magic: The Gathering. It is an awesome card game! I really got to feed my inner nerd Friday night, and it was awesome!
This Valentine’s Day I also had a Valentine. We are just friends, but I felt like doing something special just so I could say I had a Valentine. I bought him a cheesecake from the store on campus. It looked delicious, so I hope it actually was good. That was part one of his gift, but part two comes in my next blog. Stay tuned!
 Cheesecake for my Valentine!
On Tuesday, I went to my first ballroom dancing club meeting. I am in the beginner class along with a few of my residents, and we learned the first couple of steps for swing dancing. I went without a partner because she had a conflict this week, but it was still super fun!
 Jason and Darby, two of my lovely residents! Jeb and Dori, the club founders, would be my partner occasionally, but I always have fun dancing by myself anyway. I have always wanted to take ballroom classes, but I do not have a car to get anywhere, and I also do not have money to pay for lessons, so this club has been great for me. I love it so much!
I am already ready for next week! It will be an amazing time! We are going to learn to waltz. Hopefully, by the end of this semester, I will be a ballroom virtuoso.
 Jason and Darby swing dancing
 This past Thursday, the International Programs Office (IPO) held a session for students returning from study abroad programs. During this one hour program, I heard stories from students who studied abroad in Belgium, Costa Rica, and Budapest (just like me!)
Before our study abroad trips last year, we had several meetings in order to prepare for our experience. We had lessons on culture differences, discussed our expectations, reviewed how to adapt to the host country, and talked about fears of studying abroad. While these meetings were extremely helpful, usually students forget that returning from study abroad is just as challenging as the preparation.
In this meeting, we talked about strategies on how to combat study abroad “homesickness” and how to continue exploring at McDaniel in Westminster. We completed an activity where we drafted “3 second, 3 minute, and 30 minute” responses to the question “How was your study abroad experience?” In another helpful activity, we reviewed different questions about what we learned or how we changed while abroad. Then, we considered how we can write these skills on a resume.
While I think about France and Hungary almost every day, this meeting was especially exciting, because I could connect with other study abroad returnees who share similar feelings about returning to the United States. I learned that it is common for returning students to feel a bit lost because we missed one semester at McDaniel and most of our friends do not relate with our experiences abroad.
The IPO director expertly addressed our concerns and it was nice to listen to other students’ concerns, worries, and fears that resonate with my own thoughts. It is comforting to know that McDaniel does provide support throughout the entire study abroad process and I am thankful for these resources at my school.
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