Katrina Black '18

March 13, 2015

Springing back after Spring Break

Spring Break ended this Monday, March 9th and the transition back into Holy Cross was quite complex. Either break caused me to forget how much work I have here on The Hill or professors were simply eager to start teaching again.

First off, my Spring Break was truly great. My roommate and I basically embody the quintessential, Hollywood-esque idea of college — roommates turned best buds who travel to each others’ houses over break. I went down to her hometown for the first few days of Spring Break and it was so much fun, quite different from the kind of city-life I’m used to.

Then, we travelled back up to Connecticut and I got to show her where I grew up. We even got to travel to New York to visit one of our Holy Cross friends. That’s right, Holy Cross students are friends off-campus as well, believe it or not (this was more or less a sentence my roommate wanted me to include and I actually really like it. And you thought I wouldn’t include it).

In any case, once I returned to campus, I had to distance myself from Netflix and buckle down. I had a great amount of homework due, as well as some papers. It felt as if my courses had doubled in intensity. How did I deal with this, you ask?

Well, that’s the thing about The Hill. Even though it seems like the schoolwork is never-ending, the community and atmosphere around campus will keep you sane. Maybe you’ll have friends who will make you cry of laughter when you want to cry of sorrow. Perhaps you’ll find that one professor who really understands your mindset. Heck, Kimball could be serving my, er, I mean your favorite mint chocolate brownies (I promise you, they’ll change how you see the world).

I also had Fools to fall back on as well. No matter my mood, going to rehearsal always makes me happier. Our a cappella group has such a tight bond that it’s impossible to leave feeling anything but ecstatic.

So, the blog take-away is: Here at Holy Cross, you get the whole package. 1) A rigorous, and I do mean rigorous, education. 2) A gorgeous campus. 3) A community so accepting and so welcoming that you can’t help but smile every single day.

Below Spring Break pictures from left to right: 1 & 2) At the beach and 3) At the Reservoir in New York City

February 22, 2015

The Glamour of First Year

It feels as if I just started writing this blog. Yet, my freshman year is already close to complete.

Though cliche, the phrase holds true — time flies when you’re having fun. I doubt that without the great friends and amazing experiences I’ve had here on the Hill the year would have gone by so quickly. I’ve been to so many events, talks, discussions, as well as dances, games, and other colleges.

Just two days ago, about 13 of my friends and I took the Holy Cross shuttles to Boston to celebrate my friend’s 19th birthday. We had planned to ice skate, but Boston suggested otherwise with it’s decreasing temperature and Queen Elsa-esque winds. So instead, we opted for a movie and then dashed to the Cheesecake Factory.

I cannot even begin to describe how great my cheesecake was, but something was even greater. Traveling with my friends, even if only for about an hour in traffic, is now one of my favorite memories. We cracked jokes, sang embarrassingly loud to the bus’ radio, and simply just had ourselves a grand time.

In Boston, we screamed when the intensity of the wind surprised us, laughed when one of us (me) nearly tripped over the sky-high snow piles, and ran as fast as we could to catch the subway. It was incredibly fun and we got to celebrate my friend’s birthday off of campus, which, let’s face it, will eventually seem less glamorous than it did at first.

However, there are still plenty of amazing events back here on The Hill. Last night, Fools on the Hill sang the national anthem at a hockey game and tonight there is a formal Oscars viewing party in Wheeler basement. Hey, maybe the glamour’s not all gone.

So, the blog take-away is: My first year will be one of my best years, but only if I remember to make the most of every opportunity, to spend time with friends, and to simply be a squealing, laughing, celebrating freshman.

February 2, 2015

Frozen on the Hill

Are you freezing? No? That’s cool.

I wouldn’t say I’m freezing, but I’m close to it. Truth be told, Winter is my least favorite season. I absolutely love the gorgeousness of the snow, but I can’t say I love the chilliness or sporadic snowballs here on campus. Honestly, I felt like I was on the set of Sharkboy and Lava Girl walking through mountains of snow.

Maybe you’re like me, someone who isn’t the biggest fan of snow and you’re wondering if you should attend Holy Cross. Let me tell you, it’s definitely worth it. The friends you make here and the professors you meet will make the snow seem as nothing.

HOWEVER, I will encourage you to stock up on Winter clothes. Right now, we are in our second snowstorm. Yes, second snowstorm. Classes were not cancelled this time, either. Please, make sure you bring your Winter boots, Winter coats, gloves, thick pants, and blankets galore.

Anyways, though this weekend was quite chilly, my friends and I went to watch the musical, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” here at Holy Cross. The cast was absolutely incredible and they received a standing ovation at the end! It was well worth it, regardless of the treacherous walk to the theater (did I mention I don’t like snow)?

I guess what I’m trying to say is that there is still something to do on campus, even if it’s covered in the snow. Last Friday it was Extreme Bingo, which I heard was actually super extreme. Being Frozen on the Hill also means lots of inside parties. I promise you will have something to do if you don’t feel like going out.

Let’s also not forget about the true snowy advantage of going to Holy Cross — SLEDDING. It might be the cliche freshmen thing to do, but it is no doubt a FUN thing to do. I wasn’t entirely sold on the idea (really, snow + Katrina = mayhem), but I’m actually really glad I did it.

So, the blog take-away is: I will get wicked cold up on the Hill, but nevertheless I will make wicked friends, memories, and snow-angels.

January 26, 2015

Winter Wishes

Hello!

Winter is upon on us. As of right now, classes have been cancelled tomorrow due to the imminent blizzard.

Therefore, my fantastic roommate and I have declared today as Netflix Day (I mean, does that not sound calendar-worthy? Stay posted for possible petition). In all seriousness, one should know that “snow days” are rare in college. After all, we are adults.

Beside the fact that I’ll have a day free of classes, I’m also really excited for the scenery. Though I’m not a huge fan of Winter, I am in love with the beauty of snow-covered trees and hills. The Holy Cross campus is especially gorgeous in both Fall and Winter, so there’ll be great photo-ops for all you perspective artsy folk! See beautiful pictures below!

Moreover, cancelled classes really gives me time to rest, because this weekend I participated in Holy Cross’ Dance Marathon. The Dance Marathon is a wonderful event created to support the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, “a leading organization dedicated to identifying, funding and conducting basic pediatricHIV/AIDS research.”

This year there were about 200 dancers AND we raised a ton of money for the foundation. Oh, and did I mention the marathon is 12 hours? Yes, we started at 8pm and danced until 8am. Needless to say, cancelled classes is like a dream.

Now we relax, dear friends, if only for a little while. Tomorrow is really catch-up day in college terms. We will all be taking it easy, but we will all be studying hard — if that makes any sense.

So the blog take-away is: Winter is going to be brutal, but beautiful on the Hill. It is very, very rare that I will have a snow day, but if I do, then I will declare that day as Netflix Day and support Katrina’s petition. 🙂

January 17, 2015April 16, 2015

Family

Hello, again!

I have been absent for too long, so my greatest apologies. My schedule has been super packed this Holiday Break, but I regret not having posted more during my break. I mean, what’s not to post about family, friends, and food?

This break has reminded me two things: 1) Why I LOVE my family and 2) Why I LOVE Holy Cross.

1) My family has always been so supportive and each and every member is so important to me. They inspire me to do good and every day I hope to make them proud. Seeing my parents and my siblings made me so happy. Seeing my little cousins, er, who are actually not so little anymore, caused my heart to swell (really, it’s like they’ve grown five inches since I left).

Their support and their perennial love makes me want to succeed in anything and everything I do, not just for me, but for all of them. They almost drowned me with questions about how I felt and how I was doing, but they were concerned mainly with how much I missed Holy Cross.

The answer: a lot. Though college brings work (and work on top of that work — see my post about that here), it also brings such fun and laughter and learning and friends. My friends and I stayed in touch over break, sending “memes” or funny quotes to each other and even exchanging Christmas gifts.

It has been the best experience of my life, as many often say, and though I am not eager to leave my wonderful family back home, I can’t wait to join my family back onthe Hill.

So, the blog take-away is: I love my family, both families – the one I grew up with and the one I grow to love more and more each day on the Hill.

December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

Work on the Hill

My apologies for my absence these past couple weeks! Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday, so I was extremely excited for Thanksgiving Break, even if it meant some time away from the Hill, and I tried to finish all of my work before it.

But alas, I am back and of course, work is back with me. Work becomes a dear friend here on the Hill, one who never leaves your side, a constant companion. In fact, sometimes it feels as if I spend more time with work than I do my other friends. However, it is important to know that work understands that distance makes the heart grow fonder. In other words, make sure you SOCIALIZE and TAKE BREAKS and LEAVE DINAND LIBRARY. Work will understand.

In all seriousness, when you’re happy in your social life, you’ll definitely be motivated to be happy with your class work as well. December break is two weeks away and for Holy Cross students, that means readings, essays, assessments, and the ultimate final exams. It is possible that when you hear the phrase, “there is a lot more work in college than high school,” you might brush it off as a cliche or a tactic used by teachers to get you to buckle down on your assignments. I’m here to tell you — that is a huge understatement.

Clearly, there is a lot more work in college than in high school. As I said, work becomes your best friend. However, there is much more work beyond just your classes. Please, I urge you, to work on getting closer to people in your hall. Please, work on becoming involved in any way you can on campus. Work on finding out what is you want to be remembered for or what it is you want out of your college experience.

Work on making memories and work on getting out. Homework is always important and will always be salient, but homework doesn’t last the same way memories and experiences do. This may all sound really corny, but I believe it’s true. I am in the process of finishing an essay due tomorrow, an essay due Thursday, and an essay due the 11th, but I still make sure I take time to work on getting to know my RA (note the picture of those fantastic sugar cookies we just made in the kitchen)!

So, the blog take-away is: Work will become my best friend here on campus and I will be very devoted to our relationship, but I will not limit my experiences to just work. No, at Holy Cross, I will have experiences in my faith or in an extra-curricular activity or in simply branching out. Here on the Hill, I work on having the best four years of my life.

From left to bottom: A sugar cookie I am very proud of made for my friend Victoria, another picture of the insanely delicious sugar cookies my roommate and I helped decorate with our RA, Megan, and lastly the CASA E-board at our November Head-to-Toe Fashion Show.

November 10, 2014November 10, 2014

The Hill

Hi, again!

Looks like I’ve got a hectic week ahead of me. Being involved in organizations has proved to be quite the challenge, but ultimately I’m still extremely happy. Nevertheless, with a heavy workload (German research paper due, English paper due, History team assignment due, plus all the additional work) and a heavy organization workload (two new songs for Fools on the Hill, preparation for CASA‘s Head-to-Toe Fashion Show, hosting for Prospectives, and, you know, keeping up with my blog), I feel a bit overwhelmed.

However, the great thing is — Holy Cross knows this. I don’t mean they know that they’re assigning a lot of work (which I’m sure they do know), but I mean they know that we feel overwhelmed and they are there to help. My professors actually like to know what I’m involved in and when I explain that I have/had an extremely busy week or weekend, they understand — but they also want me to understand that I’ve still got to get that work in.

Regardless, I’m happy here on The Hill. I have a fantastic roommate, who watches Netflix with me when I just cannot tolerate another Greek play and belts out Sam Smith songs with me. Moreover, I have fantastic FRIENDS! I had to leave a friend’s birthday get-together early for Fools rehearsal and someone saved me a piece of cake AND party food. This may seem minuscule and minor, but food is a big deal to me – I now deem that person to be especially special.

This blog post was certainly not as focused as my others, but below I wrote a little poem that should sum everything up. 🙂

So the blog take-away is: Life on The Hill can get hectic and life on The Hill can get hard, but life on The Hill I will never discard, for I know every day someone will make me smile and I know in the end it will all be worthwhile.

First picture: My hectic November calendar. Second picture: Cheering on the Crusaders at a football game (I honestly do not understand football, but it’s all about team spirit, you know?) Third picture: Walking up from Kimball. I honestly see Holy Cross in this filter 24/7. Fourth picture: Walking from Kimball again, but from a different, beautiful path.

October 26, 2014October 26, 2014

My Week back from Break

Hi, again!

So the first week back from break is officially over. In translation, the work begins again. I have an extremely immense amount of work to do, not because of procrastination, but just because I have quite the busy schedule.

I won’t bore you with personal dilemmas, though. Instead, I’ll give a little synopsis of my week back from break.

I returned on Sunday sometime in the evening and minutes later went to my CASA Members Meeting. Joining an organization (or a sports team) here on campus is a huge commitment; you will have events on weekdays/nights, so make sure you manage your time wisely. Monday strolled around and I had classes, my a cappella rehearsal in the evening, and Campion House cookies (below: a picture of my gorgeous friends and Campion House cookies)!

The rest of the week went by quickly. Midterms were returned, tears were shed.

Just kidding, no tears. Midterms were returned and I was pleasantly surprised with my grades. Utilizing the Office Hours of my professors truly helped and they are always eager to see you succeed.

Finally, Friday dawned, as did Holy Cross Family Weekend! This weekend was jam-packed with cool events for families and friends. Fools on the Hill (the a cappella group I’m in) sang multiple times for different events and it was really nice being supported by students and their families. Here is a picture of us singing for families at the a cappella concert in costumes – I’m the nerd on the far right!

Other cool events included festivities in the Hoval, the small lawn area in front of Hogan Center. My friends and I played some cool games, painted pumpkins, and listened to live music. It was so nice seeing everyone’s family come out and just have a great time. Below are some pictures of the Hoval festivities and a photo of a nice Fall walk with some friends.

All in all, it was a good week back on the Hill.

So the blog take-away is: The first week back from Fall Break may seem brutal, but Holy Cross will always do a fantastic job of making you feel right at home again.

October 9, 2014

The week before Fall Break

Not only is FALL my favorite season, but Holy Cross students also have a week-long Fall Break! To say I am excited is truly an understatement. Though I love campus and everything about it (honestly, it’s incredible), I am also quite excited to go home for a bit. Yet, I have heard that once home, all I’ll want is to come back to my second home here. I guess we’ll see!

I am sure you are interested in what campus is like before this short vacation. So, here is your peek of the week before Fall Break.

1. Papers/Midterms. It’s kind of like high school in that sense. You know, when teachers decide to give a million assignments before break. It’s doable, though, because this is college! You’ll have enough free time to get your work done. Hang out with friends and have fun, but remember to finish your work so you’re not cramming before break.

2. Info, info, info. There’s a lot of different activities here on campus, so you’ll be getting a ton of emails about things you can get involved with. Also, emails about shuttles are essential to read. Tomorrow, I am taking a shuttle to New York, which is very convenient for me. So, though you may get a thousand of them, you should read your emails.

3. Celebrations. People are excited to go home or to basically have a stress-free week on campus. Some of my friends are staying at Holy Cross this week, which I think could actually be very fun. Campus to yourself and you get a chance to meet some people you probably wouldn’t during a regular, busy week (like football athletes, perhaps?)

There is your overview of the week before Fall Break!

So, the blog take-away is: Though I will be sad to leave such a fantastic and unique campus, I will also have the great opportunity to go home during October. However, this means I’ve got to get my homework and papers done, study hard for my midterm(s), and make sure I stay focused until Friday. Then, and only then, can I celebrate!

October 2, 2014

Thursday Homework Lesson

It’s Thursday!

I personally love Thursdays, because I know the next day is Friday and the long awaited weekend will begin! One thing I’ve realized here at Holy Cross is that the week goes by quite quickly, but the weekend passes by about twice as fast.

Therefore, it is extremely important you do your homework when you can. Procrastinating is not an option. Now I’m not saying you can’t take a break, because as I said in my first post, breaks are essential. Maybe take a walk around campus, grab lunch, or even watch an episode on Netflix (my favorite kind of break). However, make sure you get back to your work.

You’ll feel so much better if you finish your homework, or at least a good chunk of it, before the week starts again. As soon as Monday evening rolls around, you might have a new paper assignment or a great deal of reading and you will feel that you have absolutely no time to do your weekend work.

Moreover, I feel that the courses are truly interesting here at Holy Cross and you will definitely love them. So homework won’t really be a drag, but rather quite fun. I know, I sound insane, but it’s true! Make sure you give yourself time to really dissect what it is you’re reading or completing.

So, the blog take-away is: I will have a lot of homework if I come to Holy Cross, but I can manage it. All I need to do is be smart with my time. I should take breaks and I should eat and stay sane, but I should also make sure I get my work done when I can. That way, I can finish the new Netflix series I just started with my ample amount of free time.

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