M to the T to the A

The visitors of Vimy Ridge

2008-06-23T14:21:00.009-03:00

Working at Vimy Ridge is like a gift where you have no idea what's underneath the wrapping paper. It looks amazing from the outside because it's all wrapped up and beautiful and you're ecstatic to open it. So you start to open it and you're all excited because you're opening this wonderful surprise but then, you realize that the person who's given you the gift is watching you unwrap it and you begin to worry about what you'll do if you don't like it. You begin to think you have an idea as to what is it and it's not quite what you expected so you brace yourself for the worst. But then you remember that it doesn't even matter what the gift is in the end, because it's about the person or the people who gave it to you. Most of the time we end up loving the gift that we're given because it's a gift, and it's special no matter what. And sometimes, if you're like me on Christmas morning, and you get an absolutely terrible/ridiculous gift from your mother, you screech and laugh and make her realize how hilarious it is that she should have thought to buy you such a thing. But that's not Vimy. No, it's not a terrible gift at all. In fact, it's one of those ones where you get a bit of sinking feeling in your stomach when you begin to think that it's not quite what you expected, but then you finish unwrapping it and it turns out to be magnificent, especially when you think about the people. Because really, regardless of what anything has to do with anything, it's always about the people, isn't it?

And that's what it's like at Vimy. It's super thrilling and exciting to arrive in France, to start training, to put on the uniform for the first time and give your first tour. And when you really start to feel like you know your stuff, it feels amazing to be able to give that kind of detailed and confident information to visitors. But then, the honeymoon ends and you start to have those days when you just don't want to be at work, can't bear to stand at the gate of the monument for another single minute and you just want to kick those kids who are climbing on the trenches off the site and back to Timbuktu. But, you can't - because you're a representative of Canada and you work to commemorate the Canadian soldiers who served in World War I. And it's at these moments, when you think of the people, that your job always feels worthwhile. When you put what you're doing into the bigger picture, it's amazing to think of what you're doing and what you're accomplishing in a days work.

What really hits home for me is when I meet those visitors, those special visitors that you will always remember. I've certainly had a few of those moments when I've helped someone find the name of a relative on the monument and watched the tears form in their eyes, found where a loved one was buried and helped get them to the cemetery, listened to the story of how a family was tracing the exact route that their grandfather had taken during his time on the Western Front in WWI. Those visitors and the passion, interest and appreciation they have for what the site is all about and what we do is truly inspiring and motivating. There is one visitor in particular that I touched me beyond any other, one which I will forever remember. He was a Canadian soldier on leave from Afghanistan who had tears spring to his eyes the moment he mentioned where he was visiting from. The tears remained for the rest of the day - while he found his great uncle's name on the monument and throughout the entirety of the tour I gave him of the underground tunnels. It's almost impossible to describe him and how he was. All I can say is that when you looked in his eyes, you saw the most tragic combination of loss, sadness, appreciation and love. The things that he had inevitably experience in Afghanistan were probably similar on some levels to the things that the soldiers of the First World War would have experienced and seeing Vimy, where all the Canadian soldiers fought, was most likely an extremely moving and real experience for him. But it was more than that - I wish I could better explain it, but he was simply lost, touched and yet so full of love and appreciation for what Vimy was all about. His name was Keith, and he was from Cold Lake, Alberta. Visitors like Keith and the soldiers who fought at Vimy Ridge and in WWI are really what my job is about, and they are the ones that I keep in my mind throughout everyday of my work at Vimy Ridge.

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

La Belle Vie en France

2008-06-07T11:42:00.007-03:00

To: Faithful blog readers

From: Unfaithful blogger

So finally, at last, I feel as though I have caught up with my life. Well, at least to the point where I actually have the time to sit down for an hour and write. I've been making these lists of things to get done and they just seem to keep getting longer, never shorter.

But I'm not complaining. How could I complain about what I've been busy with? I live in Arras, France with 15 of the most hilarious people you could ever meet, work at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, have been learning to cook, go on random, ridiculous and wonderful adventures all around Europe and basically have the best possible time every day of the summer. I've decided that this summer I would be very 'in the moment' and focus on each day, one at a time, leaving the past and the future for another time. This has, however, meant that I haven't spent as much time as I might normally have keeping in touch with family and friends, writing in my journal or blogging. But, in exchange, I've been in France for a little over a month now, and I think it safe to say that I've squeeze just about everything out of every moment so far this summer, which I'm really glad about. But here I am with an hour on my hands so I think I should fulfill my blogging commitment and let you all know what I've been up to so far this summer :)

As I said, I work at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in Vimy, France, which is Canada's First World War memorial in Europe. The site itself is about 107 hectares and the land was given to Canada in 1922 in appreciation of their contribution to WWI. It is run, for the most part, by Canadians, 10 of whom are Canadian university students like me! Five others are part of our group and they work at the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland memorial, commemorating the actions and sacrifices made by the Newfoundland soldiers during the battle of the Somme. Here's a break down of the guides:

Liz (University of Ottawa, from Ottawa, ON)
Michel (University of Ottawa, from Ottawa, ON)
Carleen (University of Alberta, from Edmonton, AB)
Tara (University of British Columbia, from Summerland, BC)
Jonathan (University of Ottawa, from Beaver Bank, NS)
Trevor (Memorial University, from Rocky Harbour, NFLD)
Ken (Memorial University, from St. John's), NFLD
Ann (Memorial University, from Mount Pearl, NFLD)
Marie-Elise (University of Ottawa, from Ottawa, ON)
Julie (University of Ottawa, from Gatineau, QC)
Marie-Eve (University of Ottawa, from La Pocatiere, QC)
Elyse (McMaster University, from Hamilton, ON)
Diana (University of Ottawa, from Kitcher-Waterloo, ON)
Roger (Memorial University, from St. John's, NFLD)
... and me!

So the fifteen of us live in two house in Arras, a town about a 50 minute train ride North of Paris, and my particular house is known as 'Vauban' (because it's on Vauban street - original, I know) and I share it with eight other people. My room is shared with three other girls, which has been both interesting and wonderful, seeing as I've never actually shared a room with another person before. I always had a single room at home and for both my years in Harper. But, it's safe to say that I'm able to now fully attest to how wonderful it can be to have a roommate, especially if you all get along super well, like we do. So yeah, double rooms, don't knock them before you try them, haha. The other guide house is about 5 minutes away and is shared by 7 people, including our program officer, Scott (University of Ottawa, just graduated and returned from his convocation today!). We all drive to work in the morning in these huuuuge vans which are waaaay too big for European roads (we've already had two small accidents - oops!) but it's always an adventure, haha.

So there, a nice little introduction to what I've been up to the last little while, and I'll write again soon with more information as to what it is that I actually do on site at Vimy and all that other fun stuff :) Also, travel stories are coming too, haha.

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

The feeling of the end

2008-04-12T00:11:00.005-03:00

Spring in Sackville is a very strange time, at least it is for me. It's a time filled with endings and beginnings, smiles and tears, hellos and goodbyes. It's a time when the weather gets nice and the breeze blows warm and the sun only sets long after dinner. A time when all you want to do is walk through the Waterfowl Park and sit by the Swan Pond and yet your mounting pile of work pulls you into the Library each and every day. When everyone is happy because summer is fast approaching and new opportunities await, and yet this feeling of nostalgic sadness lingers as we think of leaving Sackville, saying goodbye those we care so much about and yet another wonderful year coming to an end. It's a time when you are being pulled in all directions - to your desk, to your friends, to your bed, to the Quad, to coffee and dinner dates with all those people you've been meaning to spend more time with. Work has never been harder, you've never been more torn and you've never had less motivation to get it done. And yet it always gets done. All of your things get packed away, you manage all of your goodbyes, do well on your exams and then suddenly it's over. And you just don't want to go.

I have never known a place that is loved more by a greater number of people than Sackville and Mount Allison. It is certainly one of the only schools where I've encountered an incredible number of students who would be happy to spend all of their time at school, minus some of the work of course. I don't know what it is, but there is something about Sackville that makes you feel like you belong, like this is your home and like this is just how life is supposed to be. Surrounded by friends at all times, lovely weather gracing your day on a regular basis and way too much fun to be had.

This year has been unbelievable. There were some lows and many highs but most importantly a lot of growth and a lot of learning. I can hardly believe that two weeks from now, my undergraduate career will be half over. Half over. Nuts. Absolutely nuts. A number of friends of mine will be graduating this year, and it's gotten me thinking about the whole process of graduation and made me quite sad about the whole idea, actually. The grad banquet, the election of the Valedictorian, Convocation, the grad trip... It's going to be amazing, but wow, do I ever not want to leave this place. University is such a strange period of time if you really think about it. The notion of "home" changes for a lot of people, you are constantly meeting, getting to know and parting from an unbelievable number of people and living your life in these weird chunks of four or eight months. Things are constantly changing and nothing is for certain. No one knows what they're doing for the summer, next year or tomorrow night and even if you think you do, you don't. University life is constantly in motion and things can fall into turmoil pretty quickly. But if you can step back, take it one day at a time and love what you have today, you'll be okay. Appreciate, relax and everything will get done and come together in its own time.

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

A day in the life of an RA

2008-03-24T20:06:00.004-03:00

Life as an RA (Residence Assistant) is a pretty sweet job. You get to hang out with your fellow RAs, make friends with all the incoming frosh and returning students and earn some money while doing it. As potentially incoming students, you won't be assuming the role of RA (at least not until your second year that is!), but RAs will play a big part in your life while you live in residence, which I hope you'll all be doing! (Photo - Ryan and I on duty for Harper's toga party!)

Alright, so what exactly does an RA do? First off, they're older students (so either 2nd, 3rd or 4th year students, but 2nd year seems to be the trend) who are employed by the University through Student Life to kind of act like older brothers and sisters to those living in residence. They do all the typical stuff like making sure that everyone is following quiet hours which are different in every residence though the average seems to be starting at 10:00pm on weeknights and starting at 2:00am on weekend nights. They're able to fine students in the residence who break rules and the money goes to the residence house council in most cases. The RAs get the fine money for things that they have to deal with personally, such as... vomit. Ah vomit, what a fun part of the job this lovely substance has turned out to be. But more about that later.Stephen, hanging out with some frosh during a weekend duty :)

But other than the kind of run of the mill things that an RA can do for you, they're trained to be prepared for all kinds of different situations from fire alarms to suicide intervention to boyfriend/girlfriend issues to academic problems to course selections. Basically, your RA is there to help you with whatever they can, to listen to what you have to say and to point you in the right direction when you need more than they can give you. As an RA, I was surprised to find how incredibly rewarding it became to be the person that others turned to for help and guidance in a number of very different situations. I was also surprised how much I came to care about the people on my wing and how quickly we became like an actual family. Everyone on my wing seems to know where the others are at any given time, who has construction paper you can borrow, who so and so has started dating, who's turn it is for recycling or who's birthday is coming up on the weekend. There are no secrets in residence, and when living in this kind of environment with 19 other people, you can't help but feel attached, proud of and close to the people you live with. (Photo: Dancing frosh on their way to the Pub!)

One of the more visible roles of an RA is what we like to call "duty". As an RA you typically have three duties per month - one Thursday night, one Friday night and one Saturday night. There are two RAs on duty each night and their job is to sign residents' guests into the building, make sure everyone and everything is running smoothly throughout the house and generally deal with any issues that come up. Some typical things that we deal with are hilarious residents who may or may not be slightly inebriated, breaking up overly rambunctious room parties, hanging out with lovely visitors, cleaning up/dealing with vomit in all of its wonderful forms (the least fun part of the job, but also what happens the least), and occasionally putting out fires in the outdoor garbage can, hahaha. Definitely fun when you get to whip out the fire extinguisher... bahaha. Well fun, but not funny, because fires are serious... ahem. (Photo - Members of a Celtic gang (?) offering entertainment for RAs on duty.)

So yeah, being an RA is a seriously fun job, though there are certainly moments when you just don't want to deal with overly loud techno music at two in the morning or really have the time to listen to the same story about so and so's cheating boyfriend. But hey, we do it because we love it and because we love the people we live and work with, and at the end of the day it's all worth while and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

A reading week with very little reading is the way it should be!

2008-03-06T13:28:00.012-04:00

Well it's been back to reality for a few days now, though the reality part hasn't really hit me yet. I really do still think I'm on holiday, as for the past two days I have somehow managed to stay in bed until at least 11:00am... So brutal, haha. My body just hasn't gotten used to the normal schedule of going to sleep sometime before 3:00am - sounds like trouble. (Photo - Fellow guide Ben (McMaster) and I out at The Brig in Ottawa)

So yes, I'm still relishing in the beauty that is reading week, though I'm still unable to figure out why they call it "reading week". I mean honestly, very little reading usually gets done, though there are those select few who are just incredibly hardcore and get like, a paper written or a book finished or some serious lab work done or something crazy like that. But me - oh, no - no reading for me! The only reading I did was finishing one novel and starting another, just for pleasure - what a novelty! But besides that, my break was absolutely awesome. As some of you may know from having read a few of my past blogs, I worked as a Parliamentary Guide in Ottawa last summer and met a ton of great people, a lot of them who still go to school in Ottawa. Sooo, I decided it would be a fantastic idea to head out to Ontario for a little over a week and do some serious visiting and catching up with my wonderful guide friends. And this is how it went! (Photo - Jess, Tejas, Liz and I in downtown Ottawa)

I got to Ottawa on Friday night and was enthusiastically welcomed by two of my best friends, who were also guides last summer, Liz and Tejas. Liz went to Mount A last semester but now goes to school in Ottawa, where her family lives, and Tejas is from Vancouver and also goes to the University of Ottawa. We were an inseparable trio during the summer so it was just awesome to be back with the two of them :) I stayed at Tejas' apartment in downtown Ottawa for the week and it felt like we were an old married couple by the end of the week, haha. She had a big week of work and I was on vacation so I had tons of time to spend doing whatever. So, since I live in residence and go to meal hall and all that, cooking and grocery shopping and all those things are a bit of a novelty to me so I would go grocery shopping, cook us dinner, bake dessert.... Hahaha, it was so much fun and made Tejas pretty damn happy so it was great :) (Photo - Tejas, not looking too impressed at the paper she was writing during my visit)

Some highlights from my time in Ottawa included some serious shopping (put a student from Sackville in a big city with a large mall and watch out!), meeting up with my high school volleyball coach who now lives in Ottawa, visiting my apartment from the summer and my most lovely roommate Martha, heading back to Parliament to see the sights and Question Period with a Kelsey, a friend from MTA, and going out on the town with as many old friends as possible :) (Photo - Parliament Friends: Andrew, Marc, me and Ben at Zak's Diner)

So my time in Ottawa came to an end and I hoped on a Via Rail train bound for Toronto and then bussed to Hamilton to visit my friends Ben and Zsuzsi who both go to McMaster Univeristy. My trip there was pretty short, only a few days, but we had lots of fun nonetheless. Ben showed me all around campus, I went to see McMaster's production of Cabaret, checked out a house party with people from his programme (Arts & Science) and even managed to get a chapter or two read for my Islam class, haha. And then on Sunday afternoon I was off to the Hamilton airport, where I met a friend from Mount A, Mal, and we flew back to Moncton together. Since then I've been attempting to get back into the swing of things here, but really, I'm still very much in break mode. I'm having too much fun and not getting enough work done, but hey - we all know university is about more than the academics! (Photo - A notice to McMaster medical students in the Health Sciences Library, just in case they couldn't figure it out)

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

The Mount A Spirit

2008-02-14T13:02:00.010-04:00

So, life at Mount A = busy + wonderful. There has been so much going on in the last little while that I feel as though my head is still spinning from it all and that it won't really stop until exams are over in April. But, I will get a nice little rest when I go to Ottawa and Hamilton to visit some friends from my summer as a Parliamentary Guide in Ottawa and I am SO excited. What is also just incredibly exciting is the fact that I just got offered a job to work as a guide at the Canadian National Vimy Ridge Memorial in France for the summer!! And on top of that, one of my best friends, Liz (who was also a Parliamentary guide last summer) also got the job so we'll be living together in France for the whole four months of summer. How perfect is that?! She called me a few nights ago to tell me that she'd also got the job and we both practically exploded on the phone... I can't wait to see her over Reading Week so we can start to plan all of our wonderful adventures :) Speaking of being a guide, I think somewhere around seven Mount A students just had interviews for the Parliamentary Guide Programme this past Tuesday - I hope they get chosen!

Liz and I rockin' out in the House of Commons last summer

Alright so back to Mount A life... Last weekend was particularly crazy but so much fun! Saturday was the biggest day with both the women's volleyball team playing in their last home game of the season and the Swing Bash happening that evening. The volleyball game was quite a big deal... Mount A had only lost to St. Thomas once all season and St. Thomas had only lost to Mount A once all season, so essentially, the tie breaking game was happening here at MTA last Saturday. So a bunch of us enthusiastic Harperites trucked downtown to Sackville's faithful Dollar Store and stocked up on face paint, pompoms and mad pompom wigs then went back to Harper to get ready for the game. The game itself was super intense though unfortunately we lost the first three sets, losing the game. The crowd, however, was just huge and incredibly enthusiastic, cheering and getting to their feet even when the Mounties didn't come out on top. It was so great to see so many students, faculty and community members out for such a big game and cheer so passionately for this team of girls. Go MTA, go MTA spirit!

Okay, so after the game I was just exhauuuusted from cheering, yelling, clapping and stomping for 2 hours at the game. And then, that's when I remembered about the Swing Bash. As co-presidents of the Swing Society, my friend Aldous and I were in charge of organizing this annual dance/party. We had a ton of help from dedicated members of the Society who showed up for a few hours on Saturday afternoon to run errands, make decorations and set up equipment. I honestly don't know how we would have done it without them, so Aldous and I were incredibly appreciative :) We had tables with snacks and chairs for people to sit and chat at, a huge dance area in Hesler Hall, a sweet stereo that played swingin' tunes all night long and some fantastic hand made decorations. The night itself was a huge success - we had a great turn out, probably close to 100 people, put on two awesome performances and held a sweet dance off where we crowed the King and Queen of Swing. Now all that's left for Swing is the final performance which will be happening in March, which is still quite a lot of work. Aldous and I are working on three routines this year, which is proving to be really time consuming but a lot of fun and very rewarding at the same time. I'm so excited to see the final product come March 18th :)

So I do apologize for being late with this blog again, but I was insanely busy this past week with 4 midterms in 3 days and then 2 assignments due in the following 2 days. But regardless, I'm done my midterms now and am enjoying my reading week :) But more updates on that in a little while, promise :)

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

EcoAction Love

2008-02-03T21:43:00.000-04:00

You know, I’m feeling particularly proud of myself, what with my regular blogging and all. I think this is my third blog in three weeks, which is what it should be, so go me! It’s a really good procrastination tool, such as when you really don’t want to get started on those five pieces of German homework or that summer job application... Bah, why is my best skill procrastination?

Anyway, last week I finally got around to sending out e-mails to my new e-mail buddies, who are prospective students thinking about coming to MTA. The admissions team matches them with volunteer MTA students who share similar interests and we talk to them about what life is like at Mount A and all that good stuff. The point of this story is that most of the students I was paired up with were people who expressed an interest in environmental issues and I ended up telling them a lot about EcoAction, MTA’s environmental society. The ones who wrote back were really interested in learning more about what we did as members of EcoAction, so I thought it would be a good idea to do a bit of an in-depth look at EcoAction in one of my blogs. So, here we go!

EcoAction is a group that is completely run by students and meets every week at MTA's sustainable residence, Cuthbertson House. Cuthbertson House is a really great place to live if you're committed to living a low-impact lifestyle with others like you. There are... 8 (or close to that?) people who live in this beautifully renovated house and they often organize discussions and activities that focus on environmental issues and are known to cook together on a nightly basis. They are really great people and if you think you might be interesting in living in this kind of unique residence environment, I would definitely recommend going for it. It's a nice alternative for those of you who are committed to sustainable living and aren't all that interested in the bigger residence experience, so think about it :)

So back to EcoAction. As I said, we meet once a week and new members are always welcome, no matter how far along in the semester we are. We aim to create awareness and educate students and community members about environmental issues and also promote environmentally sustainable choices and living, which involves a number of different activities and campaigns. This year we've already been pretty busy, and have organized a number of different activities. One of the first ones was our annual "Buy Nothing Day" campaign, which is an event that is held across Canada. On "Buy Nothing Day" we encourage people, well, not to buy anything, and organize a clothing swap where people bring in old clothes and take other people's clothes instead of buying them. We also give away free food and drinks to hungry students, haha.

EcoAction also has a strong relationship with the administration, and those who deal with the use of electricity, heat and those who run meal hall. We are constantly promoting the use of the least amount of energy as possible, and ensuring that residences are well constructed and maintain suitable for sustainable living. In fact, last year EcoAction was responsible for having electricity efficient bulbs placed in all the residences as a result of the money we save the University during our annual C3 event (I will soon explain). We've also been promoting the purchase of locally grown foods in meal hall, and have helped in educating students about the food scraping station in meal hall, which has reduced our food waste by 44% from the previous month when it was installed. What is also exciting is EcoAction's initiative to make MTA a cup-free campus, starting in September 2009. As of the beginning of the next academic year, paper cups will not be available at any location on campus, so all students in residence and incoming frosh will be given reusable mugs to use instead! Additional mugs will be available at cost for all other MTA students as well - how exciting!

One of the biggest initiatives that EcoAction undertakes is its annual Campus Climate Challenge, also known as C3. During the month of February, EcoAction challenges all the residences and academic buildings to reduce their energy use from their totals during the previous month of February and the winning house and building get great prizes. Last year the prize was an EnergyStar flat screen TV and this year we're giving away $600 worth of outdoor equipment (including crazy carpets, soccer balls, volleyballs, footballs, frisbees, Cranium and much more!) to the winning residence. This is the first year we've included the academic buildings, and the staff from the winning building will also be treated to some lovely reusable MTA mugs. Last year Windsor Hall was the winning house and managed to reduce their energy use by 24% which was fantastic!! We've just kicked off this year's C3 campaign with speakers from MTA as well as the president of the Canadian Nuclear Association, who spoke on the benefits of nuclear energy. Hopefully this year will be just as successful as the last!

Well that's quite a lot of info, is it not? I suppose I'll leave it at that, haha. But yes, if you're interested in environmental issues, MTA has tons of opportunities for you to get involved and EcoAction is just one of them. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me, I'd love to hear from you :)

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Weekends = Love

2008-01-27T23:30:00.000-04:00

The weekend, the weekend, oh how I love the weekend. I know what many of you are thinking: "How can the weekend be any fun in a place like Sackville? A place they've nicknamed Bagtown? Come on now." Well my friends, you are mistaken! It's actually quite wonderful when you think about how many great things there are going on MTA on the weekends. Some times there are just too many, in fact! (Crazy, I know.)

Friday night was the much anticipated Harper floor crawl titled 'Harper Evolves'. Running from fourth to first floor we covered the caveman era, the 60s, modern city times, and the futuristic. The decorations were awesome and the costumes were prettttty interesting. I think I distinctly remember seeing a guy in a pink blazer with no shirt underneath, a girl with a pom pom for hair and a girl wearing nothing but a sheet of sparkly material fastened together with safety pins. Yikes. But, other than those slightly sketchy costumes the party went off without a hitch. Well, except for one thing - I was on duty. It was, however, a fun party to be on duty for because there were mainly Harperites who attended so it was fun to hang around with all of them while they go their dance on and whatnot, haha. Next weekend is the famed Mardis Gras party put on by Windsor Hall and I'm sure it will be a great time (though not as great as Harper Havoc, obviously - I mean how is that even possible?)

I however, shall be missing it as my sister and I are heading home for my dad's 60th birthday! It's supposed to be a surprise, but I think I'm safe by putting on here as I don't think he quite knows what a blog is, let alone how to find mine, haha. Oh, that's mean, but well, true. Anyway, it's going to be a great weekend, I can't wait to see how he reacts to see my sister and I show up at the door on Friday night, haha. We're going to take a family portrait, go skiing, decorate the house, bake delicious cake... such fun :) I'll let you all know how it goes next week!

Saturday was a fun evening as well - I went to see Cinderella, put on by MTA's Garnet & Gold musical theatre society. One of my good friends Laurie was the lovely Cinderella and some of the high school kids from the Swing Society were in it as well (one of them, Justin, was the prince, actually!) It was fun to watch, I hadn't seen Cinderella in a long, long time. The last one I remember watching was the real film with like Whoopi Goldberg an Brandi in it, haha. Annnnyway, later on that night I went to my friend Sam's apartment to celebrate our friend Haley's birthday and then we went out to the Pub. It was a very enjoyable evening, I even made some new friends while getting back in touch with the old, how nice :)

Ah, and today was a lovely day. I haven't left the building and the day is over, hahaha. One of the many advantages of living in Harper, being attached to meal hall, it's such a bonus. I wrote to all my e-mail buddies today which was kind of fun, I hope I hear back from them sometime :) Oh my, it is quite late, and I am quite tired, even though I've done very little today... There is talk of a big snow storm coming tonight and tomorrow morning... Ohhhh I hope there's a ton of snow and it's real messy and they cancel classes... I could get so far ahead in my work - I can't believe I already have a proposal for a paper due this week :( Anyway, it's been a pleasure, as always, and I'll be writing again soon, promise :)

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Back in the fast lane

2008-01-21T14:41:00.000-04:00

Well it certainly hasn't taken very long for me to get back into the swing of things here at Mount A. Already I seem to be uber busy with school work - so busy that I've managed to put off my blogging... again. Man, I wish I had made that my New Year's resolution... Maybe I'll make it my January 21st resolution. Okay, here is it guys. I, Susan Joan Humphrey, resolve to blog more regularly starting today, Monday, January 21, 2008. There. Hopefully that will help me stop being such a dink and putting off this blog when really, it should be one of the first things I do. I mean hey, what normal person wouldn't rather write about their life than memorize German verb conjugations or read about Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth for the fifth time? Come on, Sue, do what's fun - blog!!

So yes, I've been bad, as per usual (If I'm consistently bad, does that make me bad? Or is it then considered normal to be bad, which makes it not bad? Bah, I see why I'm not in philosophy now.) But yes, things have indeed been very busy here in the bustling metropolis of Sackville and I'm gonna tell you alllll about it! Huzzah!

It was great to get back to Sackville after being away for so long. My room actually felt a little bit foreign when I walked in for the first time, but it wasn't long before I felt right at home again. It was awesome to have everyone on the floor start arriving and now we're all back together as a cozy little 2nd East family :) We actually just had a new person move in, Zan, from Pakistan. It should be great to get to know him as well - he'll be part of the family soon enough!

The first week of classes went really well. My classes are all very interesting and I think they're going to be a lot of fun. Here are my classes for the semester for those of you who are interested in seeing what a second year IR student might be taking:

GERM 2000 - Intermediate German (Dr. Desmarais)
GENV 1201 - The Human Environment (Dr. Fox)
GENV 2221 - The Developing World (Dr. Reiffenstein)
RELG 3701 - Islam (Dr. Darwish)
RELG 3941 - Religion, Revolution & Violence (Dr. Darwish)

The course 'Religion, Revolution & Violence' is a seminar class and they are such a pleasure to attend. It only happens once a week and runs for three hours instead of being three times a week for about an hour each time. Yeah, it's a bit long, but the way it runs is really cool. So far we've all been sitting in a large circle, Dr. Darwish throws out questions, comments or ideas and we discuss them. We'll watch movie clips to illustrate points, but mainly, we discuss, challenge and question one another. It's so cool, I think it's the way that I learn best. There are no tests in the class - there will be two presentations that each student will give, and a major research paper, but that is much preferable to midterms and final exams in my opinion. Wooo, seminars!!

After the first week of classes we all celebrated like it was our job by heading to Cancun Campbell, definitely one of the best house parties I've been to! As you can tell from the name, it was a 'Cancun' or tropical-ish theme, which involves everyone getting into shorts, running through the cold to Campbell Hall, wearing a dozen leighs and dancing their butts off in the main lounge to some sweet tunes. It was a great time and the decorations were awesome. They even had a tiki hut where you could get drinks! Saweeeet.

Hrmm, what else has been going on? Oh yes, of course! Stereophonic! For all you music lovers out there, you'll be more than pumped to hear about this one. Stereophonic is an annual music festival that is put on by MTA's campus radio station CHMA and involves a ton of bands coming from all across the country (but mainly the Maritimes) to play at a number of venues around Sackville. I went out to the famous George's Roadhouse on Saturday night and they had some wicked acts for the last night of the festival. Dog Day, The Stance, Two Hours Traffic and The Tom Fun Orchestra were there and they were so awesome!! The Tom Fun Orchestra was particularly amazing - they really are an orchestra of sorts. They had all sorts of instruments - trumpet, fiddle, electric guitars, banjo, acoustic guitar, drums, upright base, base. It was nuts, so so cool definitely get their album or download some of their music. I'd never heard the stance before but they were really entertaining and Two Hours Traffic was awesome, as per usual.

Wow, this is a pretty long blog... Oh well, maybe it makes up for the ones I've missed...? Haha, oh well. Enjoy, keep smiling and as always, let me know if there's anything you'd like to see on here or if you have any questions. Cheers!

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

So I'm a little late...

2008-01-04T17:59:00.000-04:00

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Holidays. There, those are all the greetings I’ve missed and failed to wish you in my recent disappearance as a Mount Allison blogger. I am a bad, bad blogger – well, not bad (at least I hope not), just late. Really late. But hey, now I get to write one big (well, maybe two), fun, exciting catch-up blog(s) – huzzah!

So, I am currently in the back seat of my family’s Ford Edge, about an hour outside of Moncton on our way home from Freeport, Maine (yes Ben, you’re hometown!). The end of the Holiday Break is fast approaching as I’m heading back to Mount A on Sunday morning. I think I’m ready to go back – I’ve been doing a whole lot of lazing, eating, reading (the fun stuff, not of the academic kind), and some may even say, too much sleeping. The days feel pretty short when you’re only crawling out of bed between noon and one o’clock in the afternoon, but hey, I am one well-rested teenage girl. I think I’ve finally established my natural body rhythm – up around noon, bed around 2 AM, a solid 10 hours of sleep – nice. But yeah, the point is, I’ve been doing a whole lot of pointless stuff and I’m about ready to get back on track with a purposeful life. It’s been oh so nice and very necessary for me to have a good long break, but it’s time to get back to my wonderful home at MTA :)

If I’ve checked correctly, my last blog was in the middle of November (oh goodness, that’s bad). But this time (like I say every time I’m late with a blog), there has been good reason. Maybe not so much reason for not having been blogging over the Holiday Break, but definitely good reason for not blogging during the final weeks of the semester. Just after my midterms finally wrapped up, I remember being in such a great mood – no work for a while, midterms are over, that’s wicked! Then, I thought I’d be a good student and take a look at my calendar to see what work I had coming up in the next few weeks, you know, get ahead of the game a little bit. That’s when I realized that the next few weeks were the last weeks of term. No work for awhile, huh? “Funny, this calendar is telling me I have three final papers to hand in and an in-class debate to prepare for during the next three weeks,” I thought to myself. That’s when my shoulders slumped, face darkened and high-spirits faded. Boooooooooo. But then, oh, then I thought, “Well, as long as I can get through these next three weeks, I’ll be fine after that.” Um... not entirely true. I kept reading the calendar – “Okay, last paper due here... three days of classes after that and then... finals. Finals. Oh my god. Finals. When the hell am I going to study for those?!?!?!” Minor panic attack occurred at this point. Mild feeling of hopelessness ensued. So I was going to go into major paper writing mode for three weeks, have three days off and then go hardcore into exam study mode for two and a half more weeks? “Hmm, well, maybe my exams will be nice and spread out and I can study for most of them in between each exam.” Load up MTA Connect on my laptop, log in, bring my exam study schedule up onto the screen. “Okay, no exam for German, knew that, awesome. Topics in IR on the 12^th, Global Governance on the 11^th, two in a row, that sucks... Canadian Federalism on the 13^th and Economic Growth on the 10^th. So that’s 10, 11, 12, 13. Wait a minute. 10, 11, 12, 13. That’s four exams in four days... THAT’S TERRIBLE!!!”

Needless to say I survived, as is obvious by my writing to tell you about it. But man, was it hard. I’ve definitely never worked as hard as I did during those five/five and a half weeks and I was absolutely exhausted by the end of it. I never realized how many hours I could work in a day, how many words I could write in an hour or how much information I could retain all at once. There were a few scary/depressing/panic-filled moments during these weeks, my favourite (looking back on it now, definitely not at the time) being when I met with a friend to go over Canadian Federalism at 9:00PM the night before the final and he asked me to explain a very basic situation and I couldn’t do it because I hadn’t had the chance to really look at it yet. Tears in my eyes and heart in my throat I buried myself in the 2^nd basement of the library (the most quiet and isolated place in the library), worked until they kicked me out and then crammed until 3 AM in the study room in Harper. Next morning, 9 AM, I was nervous as hell, flipped over the exam and kicked it’s butt. It was my last exam and I couldn’t have been more happy when I left that classroom in Avard Dixon. Freedommmmmmmmmm!

This is how my friend Hanna reacts to large amounts of studying and stress. (Don't kill me for posting this picture, haha.)

The papers came back with good marks, the debate was awesome, most of the exams went through without too many shaky parts and my final marks came back over Christmas. That’s when I really, truly realized that hard work pays off. Had I not worked as hard as I did for as long as I did, I wouldn’t have gotten the marks that I did and would have been really disappointed. I really hope that I’ll never have to go through a period like that again, but deep down I know I’m pretty much guaranteed to during my undergrad and/or what comes after. Well, at least now I know I can do it.

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Oh, and the two photos of Mount Allison after the first snowfall are courtesy of another one of MTA's bloggers, Maria Maute. Thanks Maria! :)

What a good morning!

2007-11-14T11:42:00.000-04:00

Ahhh, what a wonderful morning. Well, it wasn't really all that wonderful I guess, but it was one of the first mornings since I've been at school that I haven't woken up and been ridiculously tired/exhausted/incapable of getting out of bed. Maybe its my new air freshener... or maybe my big comfy cushion... or maybe my new bamboo rug! Orrrrr, maybe it's the fact that I had one of the most relaxing and lazy weekends in a very long time.

Remembrance Day weekend is a bit of an odd one: it's a solemn occasion, meant to remember our veterans and soldiers, but also one that translates into a much needed rest for most university students. The majority of people go home with the intention of getting tons of work done - catching up on mountains of reading or writing a paper (or at least trying to start one). But again, the majority of people... get nothing done. And you know what, that's okay, even good, in fact! Because man, I, like I'm sure most other students here, have been running on high since... oh... September, and a rest was most definitely in the cards for me this weekend. I did get some reading done, which was very good, but it was relaxed, pressure free and at my leisure. And hey, one morning, I even woke up and stayed in bed to read something that was, heaven forbid, non-academic. No offense to my professors, but reading about suicide terrorism, power politics, the security dilemma and the hopelessness of the developing world alllll the time can get a little bit depressing. Now fiction, there's some good weekend reading! And I didn't even have to take detailed notes - nice!

And apart from the reading, I did lots of other useless things - things like watching trash TV with my Mom until the early hours of the morning, roasting marshmallows over a fire in the basement, snuggling with my cat, Fluffy (who hates being snuggled, might I add), cooking supper, going bargain hunting at Rossy and lazing in my bed with my best friend Sacha (who, upon returning home, was pulled over by the cops for speeding as she tried to make it home to see her Mom before she left for work. What are the odds?) Useless things, but wonderful things. Things that I never get to do here so it felt really good to do them. It's made me very excited for Christmas break because then, I can't even do any work! Zero, zilch, nadda - 100% home free. Ohhh yeaaaaah :D

It was kind of depressing to come back to school this time, I'm not going to lie. It's really weird for me to feel that way because I'm always the cheery, gung-ho, motivated person, but ouf, I did not have much pleasant stuff awaiting me at MTA this time around. It wasn't just like I had a rough week coming up or anything - it's the fact that it's go-time all the time, all the way until the end of the semester. I've got 2 papers, 2 midterms, a formal debate and 4 final exams coming in the next month. Bruuuuutal. And you know what? There's absolutely nothing I can do other than put my nose to the grindstone and get 'er done... for the next month. All hardcore, all the time. Oh, I'm going to be sleeping so, so much over the Holidays.

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

PS - One interesting thing I can put up here since I have zero applicable photos this week:

Campbell Hall (a MTA residence) and Eco-Action (an environmental group here on campus) are coordinating a clothing drive and clothing swap over the next two weeks, and here is a link for the promotional video for the campaign, 'We Propose Clothes': http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=YS5x8YSX7Yg

Happy Halloweeeeeeeen!

2007-10-31T11:41:00.000-03:00

Greetings all you ghosts and ghouls! Are you having a wonderful Halloween so far? I'm not sure if I am or not... I even forgot that it was Halloween today until I went downstairs to meal hall and saw a wonnnnderful sight! Who was it but Carol, the wonderful checker with her face painted green, donning purple hair, a witch hat and complete set of witch robes. The counter was completely covered in black garbage bags, Halloween glitter as well as moving and shrieking hounds and witches. Awesome! It got me into the Halloween spirit, which I feel I have definitely been lacking these past few years. Halloween was always one of the funnest days I had growing up, and I definitely went trick-or-treating until I was in grade 11. It seems as though since I've stopped trick-or-treating that Halloween has lost its lust for me, especially now that I'm no longer at home. At home, my Mom and I were the ones who would get pretty hyped up about Halloween. Mom always said that I was the holiday spirit in the house because I was the one who got everyone else pumped about whatever we were celebrating. So yeah, I would put up all our traditional decorations: the ceramic pumpkin with a tea light on the dining room table, the plastic ghosts on the lights outside the garage, the Dracula face on the entry way doorknob, the cackling witch and her cauldron by the main door and a couple other spooky witches and cool candles around the house. Ahhh, that was so much fun.

Now, I just don't find there's enough hype for me anymore, especially at university. Last year I spent Halloween night in the Library, studying for my Astronomy midterm. Booooo. This year I might go to a little Halloween-themed gathering at Cuthbertson House, the sustainable residence, which will probably end up being a bunch of us with minimal costumes, lots of tea and sweet treats. Sounds good to me! I did, however, get dressed up this year for a party. Thalloween is the big party on campus for Halloween, and it's put on by Thornton House, one of the South side residences. (See the name, Thalloween, it's a clever combination of 'Thornton' and 'Halloween', get it?) I hadn't been planning on going to the part, buuuuut some of the wonderful people on my floor and a good friend Kyle convinced me to go. I had no costume, but what the heck. Ahhh, but then, then I remembered... ANDY'S COSTUME DRAWER! I don't know how many people bring costume drawers to university, but wonderful Andy on my floor did and man, is it awesome. So I found a huuuuge pair of bright yellow baller pants and a faded Sussex basketball jersey, threw on my signature blond wig, some ballin' trainers and a sports bra (clearly visible on the sides, obviously) and voila! instant gangster. It was a pretty sweet costume, I'm not going to lie. Definitely the most comfortable one I've ever worn.

We also had some wicked awesome wing-decorating in my residence, Harper Hall. Each wing got $30 from the House Council to spend on decorations for their wing and the best wing is going to win a prize! Not sure what the prize is, and I don't think we won, but we had a ton of fun doing it anyway! Here are a couple pictures from the decorating extravaganza :)

Some of the girls in intense decoration deliberations...

Zack climbing the walls to put up cobwebs. Very Spiderman-ish...

The finished hallway! Creepy, huh?

Well I'd best be off to German class, but I hope that you all have a happy Halloween! No... wait... not a happy Halloween... a terrifying, spooky, cackling and ghoulish Halloween!

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

What do you do after the hardest week of life...?

2007-10-22T11:34:00.003-03:00

Soooo yeah. Last week: le shitty. Big time. Why you ask? Well maybe it was because I had two midterms, a research paper, an assignment and a quiz! Do you think that's cause for a crappy week? I think so. Gross gross gross.

I honestly don't think I've ever worked so hard in my life. I clocked about 6 hours at the library every day, sometimes more. Not only did I have all that to do, but for one of the classes (Economic Growth, with a midterm and assignment for it) I had absolutely no clue as to what was happening in the class. So, I spent two full days attempting to learn all of the material I didn't understand, and then I ended up knowing it really well. But, lo and behold, none of that stuff was on the test!!!! Baaaaah, of course that would happen. But I have to admit, learning all the math really helped me understand the theory, which was what the test focused on. But man, I was so ready for that math. Poop! Hopefully it went well nonetheless - cross your fingers for me.

And so finally, Friday came, and I was soooo happy. And not only was it Friday, it was planned to be a wicked awesome Friday. My friend Alex (he's the co-social chair of Campbell Hall) was celebrating his 19th birthday on Friday and decided to throw himself a little floor crawl, haha. And on top of that, two of my best friends, Kyle and Colin, came to MTA from UNB to visit and celebrate :) How wicked! The floor crawl was a time warp theme, so I got all decked out in my 80s aerobics instructor outfit and hit the dance floor with great passion. A much needed and well deserved break if you ask me! This is a picture of (back row) me (yes, I'm a natural blond), Carolyn, Alla, (front row), Sacha and Laurie in our sexy 80s gear for the Campbell Floor Crawl. How much more attractive could you get? Damn, it was so much fun, haha. Here's another one of (back row) Colin (UNB), me, Alex (birthday boy!), Kyle (UNB) and (front row) Mayme (co-president of Campbell Hall). All these lovely people, straight from Campbellton, NB, having a wonderful reunion at Mount A, and in style, might I add.

Now you may think that that sounds so fantastic that it just couldn't get any better than that... Well, not necessarily better, but there was certainly more fun to come! I managed to sleep in until 11:30 on both Saturday and Sunday (aaaaamazing) and on Saturday afternoon I did... nothing (which was wonderful), followed by a cozy dinner at Joey's with the Campbellton gang (plus Ryan and Niall from Nova Scotia, haha). And then, I spent the evening at Ducky's, a very chill pub in downtown Sackville (yes, I said "downtown Sackville" haha) with my German lab TA, Raphael (on exchange from Marburg, Germany) and ran into some other friends as well. Ahhh, how... nice. And relaxing. And not working. And not in the Library. And yeah. Just not in the Library. I am so, so sick of that place, haha. And well, unfortunately, I'll still be spending a lot of time there this week because I'm now behind on all my readings because of studying for my midterms. And I have a paper proposal for Canadian Federalism due on Friday. Annnnd I haven't started. Boo, why won't work just... stop. For a few days. Just, one or two, really, that's all I want.

Ah well, so you see, this week has been prettttttty draining, but it was followed by a wicked fun weekend. And I made it through that week. I survived and I didn't fail anything (well I really don't think so anyway! Frig, that would suck.) So the lessons to be learned from this week are:

No matter how bad the week looks to be, you can and will get through it.
No matter how impossible the work seems to be, you are capable of it.
You can do nothing more than your best.
You are a human being, not a superhero. Do what you can and leave the rest.

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

(As always, feel free to e-mail me, add me to Facebook or MSN if you have questions or just to chat :D)

Thanksgiving...? That happend already? Really?

2007-10-14T23:46:00.001-03:00

So yeah, Thanksgiving... That's already happened? Come and gone? Done like dinner? But how is that even possible? There's no way it's already the middle of October, and there's definitely no way that I'm accccctually in the middle of midterms and papers. Nah, can't be true. I mean afterall, I just got to Mount A a few weeks ago. Yeah... a few weeks ago... Holy cow, where did the time go? Well, to be corny... Nah, I can't say it, it's too lame. What? You want to hear it? I'm telling you it's bad... Okay fine: I guess it's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun! Like all of these Harperites in this wonderful picture! (Particularly Brent, our House President, the one in the yellow, hahaha.) And just think, this could be you! Living in Harper Hall, the best house on campus (obviously... don't listen to what anyone else says!), screaming yourself silly at Spirit Night, pretty much one of the most fun nights in residence life :) All the houses get decked out to the max in their house colors, bring banners, mascots, props, the whole shabang, and dance, cheer and indulge in ridiculousness all night long! There are also wicked obstacle course games, and man, are they a good time, haha.

What else has been going on here in Mountie Land? Well of course, there was the BIG DAY... HOMECOMING! And you know what was the craziest part?? MOUNT ALLISON WON THE FOOTBALL GAME! Isn't that mad?! I'm really sorry if any Mount A football players are taking offense to this, but please, if you are, don't. I mean, if we're honest and take a look at the facts, Mount A just hasn't won many football games, let alone Homecoming, for quite some time. It was hilarious that when Mount A beat St. FX (yeah, that's right!) no one quite knew what to do because well... we're just not used to winning, haha. People were like, should we rush the field? Should we stand here and clap? Should we cheer? Should we just go home? Haha, very funny indeed. Here's a shot of the scoreboard, just to make the win final in everyone's mind, haha. 25-13, baby! Now that's what I'm talking about!

But, other than the actual win of the football game, it was wicked awesome to see soooo many people out for the game. Everyone was wearing garnet and gold, everyone was at the game, and everyone was having an awesome time. Some of the houses made big banners to support the Mounties and all the residences met up in the Quad and headed over to the game together. It always feels like I'm in a movie when I go to a football game here, particularly at Homecoming, because we didn't have football at my high school and the atmosphere is just kind of... magical and surreal, haha. Everyone's cheering, the home team is actually winning... how fairytale-ish!
And finally, here's one last Homecoming photo, of Mayme (co-president of Campbell Hall), me, and Emily. Both girls are best friends whom I grew up with and are now loving the life with me at Mount
A :) And hey, how perfect is this photo? You've got the Mount Allison University sweater, the two ladies in garnet, the crowd of people in the background, the crisp blue sky... Ah, Mount A is a fairytale indeed, hehe.

So yes, the time up until Thanksgiving was wonderful - lots of friends, fun events and good times :) Thanksgiving itself was also really nice... I was definitely feeling like I could use a break from school and all the work that was going on. And it was just really wonderful to be able to see so much of my family - many of them that I hadn't seen in quite a long time. Going home for the first time since coming to school is always so wonderful, especially if it's your first time living away from home. Mmm, here's a fun picture from my Thanksgiving in Moncton this year! My dad, me and my aunt Kay, acting crazy during Thanksgiving dinner, as per usual.

But alas, it's now back to the grindstone... This past week and this coming week are gross... After this two week period I'll have had 4 midterms, 1 paper, 1 assignment and 1 quiz. Gross gross gross! Buuuuut, if I can make it until Friday, everything will be a-okay, because it's my good friend Alex's 19th birthday, and since he's the co-social chair of Campbell Hall, he's decided to throw himself a nice little floor crawl to celebrate, haha. And, added bonus, two of my best friends from UNB, Colin and Kyle, might be coming to MTA to celebrate as well! Huzzah! Time to buckle down and get to it... wish me luck!

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

You know what makes me happy?

2007-09-29T09:22:00.000-03:00

Swing dancing! I love swing dancing. Yes, yes I do. I love the music, the people, the spinning, the jumping, the laughing, the falling and the awkward moments. I love teaching new people moves that they’re so excited about. I love messing up and falling to the floor laughing. I love sometimes not knowing what I’m doing and not knowing what’s coming next. I love sweating like a pig and not caring about it. I love how many people are coming to the classes. I love swing – it makes me so, so happy.

No matter what kind of day or week I’m having, I look forward to Thursday nights at 9:00 when I can put on my dancing shoes and dance, dance, dance for a whoooole hour. It’s a little bit different this year since I’m teaching the class with a few other instructors, but teaching is also so much fun! I love watching new students’ first few awkward basic steps, watching them turn the wrong way and getting tangled up and looking confused. I love laughing with them, helping them work it out and then seeing them get it right and look so, so excited and proud of themselves. Haha, I just realized that I’m even smiling while I write this. Never mind boys, I dream of and am in love with swing!

And it’s not even just the wonderful funness (yes, I know “funness” isn’t a word but it’s really appropriate so I’m going to use it anyway) of swing that I love. It’s the opportunity for release that makes me feel so good and refreshed. Like last night after class, a few of the instructors and students stuck around just to dance around a bit more and at one point, my friend Aldous and I ended up just throwing our arms in the air, jumping, shaking and twisting around to the music. As silly as that may sound, it actually made me feel so liberated and refreshed – shaking off the stress and seriousness of the school week and letting loose. Finding something like this in university is so very important. If you spend all of your time in the library (like I and so many other students do during the week), you’ll go crazy and just become really unhappy without some kind of really engaging and fun activity.

University life is all about balance. I know you’ve probably already heard that from friends, cousins or siblings who are already at university and think that balance comes pretty easily. Well in high school, it’s definitely a lot easier to achieve balance in your life; your parents are around to make sure you eat relatively well, get enough sleep, and they’re there to take care of you when you’re sick. Your teachers get after you to get your work (of which there isn’t very much) done, and your friends are there for you to lean on and have fun with. So, work, play, health and all that good stuff just naturally fall into place. But in university, you sometimes have to actually make a conscious effort to find time to relax, have fun, sleep enough, exercise, and keep in touch with friends and family. You have to be careful to take some time for you. Swing is my time, my favorite time of the week and one of the only chances I have to forget about everything else and have ridiculous amounts of fun!

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

So long sweet summer...

2007-09-21T17:10:00.000-03:00

Summer, my friends, is officially over. Some of you may be thinking that’s a bit sad – and it is. After the wonderful summer I had, livin’ the life in Ottawa, it’s definitely sad to see that come to an end and say goodbye to so many friends. But, at the same time, autumn is such an exciting time in my and many other students’ lives. Especially for those of us at Mount A... because Mount A, well, it’s kind of awesome. Coming back here in the fall was absolutely wonderful – moving back into Harper, meeting all the new frosh, lying in the sun by the Swan Pond, strolling through the Waterfowl Park, chatting over tea at Bridgestreet annnnd remembering how the Library makes me feel. It’s so weird how smells are, for me, the most powerful memory triggers. And with the library, as soon as you walk through the front doors and step inside, it smells like “Oh, no. I have so much work to get done.” That’s what the library smells like for me – how sad. And, what’s crazy, is that I used to only have to spend a lot of time at the library during exam period – but this year, I’m here almost every day (and if I’m not here, I feel like I should be and really, I should be). I’m stunned at the difference between the beginning of first year and the beginning of second year. In first year, I honestly felt like I was at a wicked awesome summer camp for the first... oh, I don’t know, 2 months. This year, I arrived, had Residence Assistant training, Frosh Week and bam! mother of a workload. The first week of class I actually had about 275 pages of reading. Say what? I probably read that much in a month last year! Maybe it has to do with the three third-year courses I’m taking this semester... Silly, silly me. One of those classes, a third year International Relations (IR) class, I actually feel like a grade 9 student sitting in on a grade 12 class. Some of the people in that class just have so much more experience and just plain knowledge than I do, which makes it pretty intimidating. We have to give a 10 minute presentation on a United Nations agency and I feel like some fourth year IR guru is going to ask a question during mine and I’ll have no choice but to answer, “Oh, sorry, I’ve actually never heard of that”, while watching my professor trace a nice, big, oval zero on the piece of paper in front of him. Gulp.

My friend Sam and I at The Joel Plaskett Emergency frosh concert!

Okay, so I’m sorry if that was utterly terrifying or depressing for any of you. But really, second year is proving to be a step up from first year, while first year really wasn’t that big of a leap from high school for me. At the same time though, it’s refreshing to be challenged in a big way, even though it can be really hard to think of it like that at times. Like now – I’m writing this blog and I actually have two books and three articles stacked next to me, waiting to be read. Thank goodness it’s interesting material or I’d really be out of luck then.

Me and Rowan, an exchange student from New Zealand, at the infamous SACKVEGAS!

So my transition back to Mount A has been both wonderful and eye opening in the way that it is so good to reconnect with the fantastic people here, get back into my old activities and get involved with some new ones, while at the same time, realizing that second year isn’t going to be as much of a cake walk as first year was. But you know what? That’s okay, I’m ready for it, bring it on. I don’t want to get to philosophical with you but I found a really great quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. the other day: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” You need to step out of your comfort zone to realized what you are capable of, and that’s where I’m at right now. I can’t wait to see what happens.

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

This time next week...

2007-08-21T11:41:00.000-03:00

This time next week I’ll be back at Mount Allison. I don’t think it’s really hit me yet. I’m excited, nervous and anxious all at the same time. I can’t wait to see everyone, and yet I don’t know if I’m ready to go back to reality. But, then again, I’m sooo excited to meet all of the new Frosh and give them the best and biggest welcome possible. Hmph, what a strange mix of emotions. I guess the only thing to do is to go back, welcome change and go from there. I can do that.

Liz, Me and Tejas during a classy night out in downtown Ottawa.

I’m writing this from the airport in Montreal while I wait for my flight back to Moncton. I’ve just left Ottawa this morning, but said most of my goodbyes last night at a farewell beach party. I can’t believe that I won’t be seeing many of the guides for a very long time... That hasn’t hit me yet either. It’s amazing and frustrating how you get closest to people near the end of your time together – it’s so sad to say goodbye to so many wonderful friends. The more great experiences I have, the more my life seems to get torn into a dozen different pieces. It’s overwhelming to think of how I could possibly try to stay in touch with everyone from this summer. It’s sad to realize and know that I just won’t be able to. But what’s great about these people is that I feel that we have the kind of relationships where even if we don’t talk for a month or a year, we can meet up at some point in time and pick up right where we left off. I guess that’s what living, working, partying, celebrating, crying, laughing and learning together for four months does to you. I’m so, so thankful to have had this opportunity and to have met these 40 amazing people. I love and miss you all.

Team Timbit at the Green Door Restaurant for our last Team gathering of the summer.

(Fun fact: Peter McKay, the newly appointed Minister of Defence, is sitting a few seats away. Pretty pretty cool, haha.)

So, what have I learned this summer? I don’t even know where to begin. Well, most obviously, I’ve learned to live on my own in a new and big city. I’ve never done either – lived on my own or in a big city – before, so that was certainly a big learning curve for me. I feel great about that experience. I’ve made friends with forty of the most different people you could ever encounter. I’ve realized that you take and learn different things from different people, that there are people you can go to to laugh with, to cry with, to work with, to grow with, to share with, to confide in, but always, always to learn from. Everyone is a teacher and everyone has something equally wonderful to offer to the people they meet. Just because they or what they have to offer may be different or new doesn’t make it worth any less. In fact, it may make it even better, because it’s allowed you to see things from a completely new perspective. To embrace that and learn from that is one of the things I’m most grateful to have learned this summer.

Ben and I and a few other guides at Acadian Day Celebrations!

But what else? What have I learned about myself? I’ve learned that I am an independent person, but not as independent as I once thought. I’ve realized that I depend on other people at times, and that that’s not a bad thing. In fact, that’s what makes us human, normal. We thrive on the relationships we develop with other people, but with that comes a price: we have then put ourselves in a position where we can be hurt. But, that is a risk we have to take because if not, we would be missing out on so many wonderful relationships. I have, unfortunately, been hurt by a relationship this summer, but the support, love and advice that has been offered to me by others in my life has been truly amazing and humbling. Again, I am so grateful to have learned this, but more importantly, to have learned to appreciate all of the wonderful people in my life.

A few of the guides at Westboro Beach in Ottawa for a bit of a farewell celebration.

So, a very deep discussion has happened here, haha. But, that's okay... I feel that the end of the summer is really a good time for reflection, a time when certain things are coming to a close and other things are getting started. I'm getting more and more excited to get back to MTA the more I think about it, and I hope that everyone reading this blog is too :) For all the Frosh out there, I can't possibly convey how excited you should be... MTA and MTA's Frosh Week is extraordinary and I can't wait to meet you all and join in the fun with you :) And hey, if you recognize me around campus, please don't be shy to come and introduce yourself! I'd love to meet the people who read this blog and see what you think about it!

Weooooo, here come the best four years of your life!!!

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

35 days until Mount A...

2007-07-21T22:33:00.000-03:00

35 days is not very long from now, but it seems ages away at the same time. I'm having a wonderful and busy time here in Ottawa, as you may have been able to tell from my serious inconsistent and lack of blogging, but I'm starting to get really excited to get back to MTA. With all the first year students getting their residence assignments I'm starting to meet (through Facebook, anyway) the students coming into Harper and onto my floor, 2nd East - which is so exciting!!! I'm looking forward to another great year and can't wait to get back into the swing of things :) So, just quickly, for those of you who are interested, here are a few of the things that have been keeping me busy these last few weeks:

Partying with the Speaker of the House of Commons and some of my best friends.

All the MTA students (Liz, Jenna, Stephen and I) with Peter Milliken at his residence, Kingsmere.

Meeting up with Arnold Schwarzenegger at Parliament.

Arrrrnold!

Seeing Van Morrison, City and Colour, Sarah Harmer, Joel Plaskett, The White Stripes, Metric and Kanye West at the Ottawa Bluesfest.

The White Stripes!

Dallas Green of City and Colour

Carleen, Me, Ben (back), Avril, Allison, Laura & Andrew (front) waiting for The White Stripes!

Hosting my boyfriend and best friend in Ottawa.

Fraser and I outside of Parliament.

Sacha and I lovin' the rain at the Kanye West concert!

And of course, giving tours to thousands of tourists from all around the world!

Me, Tejas, Liz, Julie and Melissa rockin' the blue polyester.

So yeaaah, as you can see, I've been kind of preoccupied the last little while... But, here are some of the things I'm excited about that are coming in the next few weeks:

Seeing my family.
Seeing the "Mount Allison University" sign on the highway outside Sackville.
Moving into my new room in Harper.
Reuniting with my friends from Mount A.
Welcoming the Frosh to the best four years of their lives!

(Sorry I don't have cool pictures to go with all of these, haha.)

Now all of you first years out there, I'm not quite sure what to tell you anymore. The time is coming up really quick now, and I hope that you're as excited as is humanly possible. Because you should be. Because Mount A is awesome. And yeah. Be excited. Woooo! Get ready for the best four years of your life. I know, I've only been there a year, but it was the best year of my life, so I'm assuming it only gets better with time, haha. Some of you may still have questions about residence, courses, the campus, whatever, so pleaaaase, feel free to e-mail me at any time, I'd love to hear from you. T minus 35 days... GO!

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Professors and Courses at MTA

2007-06-06T17:20:00.000-03:00

Sooo, from the Facebook group, I see that there are certainly a few people out there wondering about what to expect from the professors at Mount Allison as well as what first year classes are like. Some of you are lucky enough to know people who are already at MTA and they can help you choose your classes and tell you about their relationships with certain professors. But for the rest of you who aren't so fortunate, I hope I can help you out a little bit to tell you about the professors that I had and/or met in my first year and the courses that they taught me. Unfortunately for you science students out there, I won't be of much help to you as I took very artsy courses last year. But feel free to post a plea for help on the Facebook group and I'm sure a science student or two will do their best to help you out :) Also, I know a lot of science students, so feel free to ask me and I'll put you in touch with someone who knows the science professors :) Wickeeeeeed!

Alex Fancy, Director of MTA's Drama Department.

First off, here is a list of the courses I took last year and the names of the professors I took them with:

GERM 1000 - Elementary German - Dr. Renata Schellenberg
FREN 2401 - Langues et Lectures I - Dr. Peter Edwards
PHYS 1001 - Astronomy - Dr. Robert Hawkes
PSYC 1011 - Introduction to Psychology II - Dr. Gene Ouellette
RELG 2801 - Introduction to Western Religions - Dr. Fiona Black
POLS 1000 - Introduction to Political Science - Dr. Sean Saraka, Dr. Tamara Small, Dr. Wayne Hunt, Dr. Michael Tucker
ECON 1001 - Principles of Microeconomics - Dr. Niels Anthonisen
ECON 1011 - Principles of Macroeconomics - Dr. Niels Anthonisen

Alright, now I'll go through each one and tell you what I think :D

Intro German (Dr. Schellenberg)
This was probably my favorite class last year! I love languages, and learning German was really fun. The class sizes are small (my class was about 25) and Dr. Schellenberg is wonnnnderful! Hilarious, clear, fun and fair. Unfortunately, she will be on sabbatical for the first half of next year, but Dr. Claude Desmarais is the other German professor and he's equally as wonderful. He replaced Dr. Schellenberg a few times and he was really helpful when it came to talking about exchange programmes and the like :) So all in all, the German department at MTA is excellent :D

Langues et Lectures I (Dr. Edwards)
I took this class as an elective out of interest and because I wanted to keep up my French while I was at Univeristy (I was in French Immersion for 13 years). Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed in the oral and reading comprehension aspects of the class, though the written grammar that was taught was very thorough. Being a fluent speaker, it was rather frustrating to not be able to use my oral skills to my advantage, but I certainly learned a lot of grammar that I hadn't been taught in high school. If you're looking to improve your writing skills in French, this is definitely a good class for it, but not for oral practice. I believe there is an Advanced Oral class offered as a 3000 level class, so you'll have to tough out a bit of grammar before getting to that. As for Dr. Edwards, he is now retired, so it doesn't do anyone much good for me to tell you about him, haha. Also, one thing to note is that to take any French at MTA you need to take a placement test and coming in as a first year you are able to enter into FREN 1651, FREN 1700 or FREN 2401. For those of you who are placed in FREN 1700, I have heard nothing but good things about Dr. Lee (my boyfriend and several friends took this class with him) so he's a safe bet :)

Dr. Hawkes, with a huuuuge telescope at Elginfield Observatory.

Astronomy (Dr. Hawkes)
I took this class to satisfy one of the science requirements that are mandatory for all students, and am I ever glad that I did! A lot of arts students take this class as a science requirement, so the professor, Dr. Hawkes, is very understanding that you may not be a star mathematician. He explains things very clearly but doesn't lower his expectations of your knowledge of the material. His tests and midterms are very fair, and the labs are usually really fun, particularly the outdoor stargazing one! Dr. Hawkes is also one of the nicest people I've ever met; he's passionate about what he teaches, he wants each and every one of this students to succeed, and he's always available for extra help. I definitely recommend this class!

Intro Psych II (Dr. Ouellette)
I took this class to satisfy the second science requirement, and it was not very difficult or very sciencey. Intro Psych I is more science related, so I'm told, so if you want more science in your life, take Psych I. But if you want to learn about more artsy things like personality, stress, psychological development etc... this is the class for you. Dr. Ouellette is new to MTA, but he is excellent! He's very clear, very fair, and funny and interesting, even at 8:30 in the morning (no small feat, trust me). I would definitely recommend Dr. Ouellette to anyone :)

Intro to Western Religions (Dr. Black)
This course covers a lot of very interesting and important information, and the text book is wonderful. If you want to learn about Western Religions but don't have room to take the class, buy the textbook at the Bookstore, it's great! As for Dr. Black, she is a very nice woman and I've had the chance to meet with her outside of class on a few occasions. She's friendly, open to discussion, etc... However, her teaching style and my learning style didn't fit very well, but that's not to say that she's a bad professor. Not at all. I am a very organized and detailed person, and therefore like learning things in a natural progression with lots of detail to explain and back up different theories. Dr. Black can present information in a bit of a convoluted way and things that she mentions rather briefly can turn out to be really important. Careful on her midterm and final, I found them very long for the time period allowed. However, Dr. Black is on sabbatical this coming year, so this information is only useful if you're thinking of taking one of her classes in the year after this.

Intro Poli Sci (Dr. Saraka, Dr. Small, Dr. Hunt, Dr. Tucker)
This class was a great time, which is nice because if you want to take any other class in Political Science or International Relations, you need to take Poli Sci 1000 first. The class is divided into four different sections, with a different professor teaching each section, normally their specialty. Dr. Saraka taught Political Thought (he was only at MTA for last year, Dr. Michaelis is once again teaching Political Thought), Dr. Small taught Canadian Politics, Dr. Hunt taught World Politics and Dr. Tucker taught International Politics/Relations. This class is great because it lets you try out all four of the MTA Poli Sci professors and allows you to see who you liked and what area of politics you're most interested in. Sometimes a bit of a tough class for some people, but if you like politics and are interested, it's a great and fair class.

Micro/Macroeconomics (Dr. Anthonisen)
I took these classes as they are requirements for a degree in International Relations and luckily, they weren't very difficult. I'm personally not all that interested in Economics, nor have I ever taken any before, but I got through these classes with little difficulty. Dr. Anthonisen is wonderfully awkward and hilarious, and is very thorough when explaining things. He starts as if you know nothing about economics, which is good, because most people in the class don't. Sometimes he moved a bit too slowly, but he got much better as the year went on :) The problem sets are really helpful for practicing and learning the material, and the textbook is pretty useless in that regard... You really do need to go to this class to get a good mark... The text won't help you out much as he teaches things that aren't in it, and sometimes explains them differently. But yeah, go Dr. Anthonisen, he's wonderful, haha.

Dr. Summerby-Murray, Dean of Social Sciences

Well I hope I helped you learn a bit about a few first year professors and classes :) As always, if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me, message me, or Facebook me. I'm always around for you guys!

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Friends and Frosh

2007-05-29T16:21:00.001-03:00

Alright guys, I've been looking through the Facebook group last night and this morning, and I've decided that the next few blogs I'm going to write are going to deal with the issues that most new students are wondering and worrying about. Things like roommates, making friends, studying, keeping scholarships and frosh week are definitely a big part of the university experience and are all a pretty big change from what we're used to in high school. So, I hope to be able to share a bit about my experiences with these things and help calm a few of your nervous feelings and fears. Sound good? Wicked! Let's get going!

Edwards Does the Eras Party!

So, if you can guess by the look of this first picture, the first thing I'm going to write about is making friends. For the most part, I really liked high school, and I was friends with a lot of different people from a lot of different social groups, but I only had a few really close friends, which I think is the case with most people. Going away to university really allowed me to realize who my real and meaningful friends were, and with those people I'm still very close. But university does a funny yet great thing to people. Most people seem to grow up from high school (though of course, that's not always the case) and you're able to have a fresh start. You're meeting all new people who don't know anything about you, so this is your chance to be who you always wanted to be, with no past judgments or reputations getting in the way. No matter where you from or what your high school was like, you will meet people who come from similar places, but also from very different backgrounds. MTA is an incredibly diverse school for being so small, so there is someone for everyone here :) Frosh week is the best place to meet people; you'll be meeting people in your residence, your frosh group and at the activities that happen all week long, and you'll soon realize that these people will become closer and better friends than any others you've ever had. This is because at university, your friends are your family, and you spend every waking, and sometimes sleeping, moment together. You study, party, eat, laugh, cry, procrastinate and live together. It's amazing and wonderful!

Harper Frosh Initiation 2006/2007

Harper Hall at Spirit Night!

These are a couple of my favorite pictures from Frosh Week, and I think that they really capture the feeling and point of Frosh Week. The first one is from the Harper Frosh Initiation. That was probably my favorite part of Frosh Week, just because I don't think I've ever felt more excited and welcome as a part of a group. Sure, the actual initiation was gross (down a huge slide of condiments, puffed wheat, etc... and then rolling in flour to make it good and sticky) but being totally sick as part of a group with all the frosh and upperclassmen cheering you on is a pretty powerful feeling. Definitely a bonding experience as a house and hey, just make sure you bring some clothes you can throw out, and then you all get hosed off and showered and you're back to normal :) The rules for initiation activities are very strict at MTA; no meat products, no dangerous activities, no discrimination, no forced activities, etc... So yeah, you don't have to do anything that you're really uncomfortable doing, but sometimes, stepping out of your comfort zone is a good thing. And, all your great new friends are there to cheer you on and laugh with you.

The second picture is from Spirit Night, which is an evening where both frosh and upperclassmen get together as a House, have themed costumes and compete in the gymnasium for the Golden Sneaker, the prestigious Spirit Award. The games are hilarious, there's tons of cheering and just a grand old time to be had! Harper dressed up like a deck of cards, complete with a magic top hat made out of an old ping pong table and of course, a magic bunny (me)!

Roommates are also a big part of the friend situation here at MTA. As for me, I lived in Harper last year, which has all singles, so I've never actually experienced the whole roommate situation. However, I do know a bit about it, so I'll see what I can do for you. Having a roommate is great for some people because it's an automatic first friend. Some roommates get along so well that they become best friends and will live together every year after that, and others, not so much. Some become more just acquaintances, and unfortunately, some people just really don't get along very well at all. In these cases, you are not sentenced to an unhappy year with a roommate that you really don't like. There is the possibility of switching rooms, either in the same house, or to another, so don't worry about being miserable with the wrong roommate. There are back up plans, haha. But the whole point of having a roommate is to work to get along, to respect one another and put aside your differences, so who knows, if you give it some time and work at it, they just may become your new best friend!

The Waterfowl Park

So, I hope that this gave you a bit of perspective on making friends and Frosh Week at MTA... Of course, no one's experience at Mount Allison is the same, so by all means, you may have a completely different one than me. But this is just a bit of a glimpse to get you ready :) As always, please feel free to e-mail me or comment on my blog! Until next time!

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Days 1, 2 and 3... I survived!

2007-05-16T18:59:00.000-03:00

The 2007 Summer Guides!

Ah, the Guide Program... What can't it do? It can make you smile, make your stomach knot, make you cringe, make you step outside of your comfort zone, and make you laugh so hard it hurts. And on your first day of actual work, you get to experience alllll of these things, haha. First off, you're super excited, so you're smiling like a mad man, and if you're like me, you are almost late, so you are sweating quite profusely after power walking a 20-25 minute walk in 15 minutes. But yeah, you're smiling nonetheless! And then, oh then, you find out when your very first tour will be. You're hoping with all your might that it's in your first language, and that it is not a group of uninterested grade eight students from Toronto. Now, don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with Toronto, nor the people from Toronto.. In fact, I've never even really visited there, so I've no opinion, and there are a few super cool guides from Toronto. But it is the inside joke among Guides about how grade eight students from Toronto are consistently (and consistently mainly because it is a massive city that is so close) very uninterested and well, just not very attentive during tours.

So yeah, you hope for first language, and not grade eights from Toronto. And lo and behold, yay! I had an English public tour, no grade eights, not even one! I had a few members of an Italian wedding party, some lovely ladies from Ireland, an Australian woman, a few visitors from China, and of course, a large number of Canadians. The tour went relatively well for my first tour, except when we got to the part where it made me cringe... Like I said, I had some lovely women from Ireland on my tour; real sweethearts. So when I was discussing the symbols on the ceiling of the Senate, I mixed up a few of them, including the symbols for Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Of course, the Irish women knew, and they came up to me at the end of the tour saying, "Darling, you were brilliant, but...", and proceeded to correct my silly mistakes. But they were so wonderful and kind that I couldn't help laughing at myself. But at least now, I know those darn symbols on the ceiling of the Senate, and hopefully I don't mess them up again, haha.

Ben (Ottawa, ON), Me (Campbellton, NB), Abbas (Toronto, ON), Liz (Ottawa, ON).
Yes, our uniforms are extremely sexy.

So that was my first tour of life! Not so bad; only one little screw-up, and fortunately, I had a pretty attentive and interested audience, which makes all the difference in how you feel about a tour. Now what really surprised me, was how much better I felt about my second tour, which was in French, my second language. Don't get me wrong, I love French, and I'm comfortable and fluent in it, but it is certainly a lot easier to forget and stumble over words in your second language. But again, I was so, so lucky with my group. There were only six people on my tour; one of them was from France, one from Canada, and four people from Chile, who were pretty good with their French! What was nice about that tour was that the building was almost deserted as it was one of the last tours of the evening, so we could linger as long as we wanted in most of the areas, without having to be concerned about holding up other groups behind us. It was more like a really interesting discussion and question session, which really gave me the chance to build up my confidence in my French tour :)

Me (Campbellton, NB) and Tejas (Vancouver, BC), doing some serious dancing in our spare time, haha.

The next day I was on the Tower & Acceuil Shift, meaning that for the morning I was working in the Peace Tower, putting people onto the elevator, bringing people up in the elevator and doing some informal interpretation and question answering in the Memorial Chamber. In the afternoon/evening I was outside welcoming people to the Hill and handing out tickets for tours with a few other guides. Those jobs are pretty good positions as your sole responsibility is really just talking to visitors and giving them the information that they need. I met visitors from all over the world, and even got to practice a little bit of my German with a few visitors from Germany and Switzerland. Very cool day!

Today I was again on guiding duty, and I stopped by the kiosk to find out what my assignment for the day was... Grade eights from Toronto. Noooooooooooooo. Please, not me, anyone else, they scare me, honest! But no luck. They were allllll mine. Well, fifty of them anyway. The other fifty were going with another guide, Caroline, who was pretty much as excited as I was. But, we decided that it wasn't really fair to judge the kids before they even got here, so we thought it would be best to keep open minds. But then, they arrived. And well, they were just like everyone said; grade eights students, uninterested, always talking, and mainly, just wanting to be with their friends in a place other than school. I guess I can't really blame them. I mean, when I was in grade eight, I had the exact same mentality. But nonetheless, they were certainly not my best tour, just because I felt rather useless and boring, even though I tried to present some of the more interesting and startling facts about Parliament (yes, there are some). And when I talked to Caroline about her group after the tour she agreed that they simply weren't interested. Ah well, what can you do? Not everyone is as in love with Parliament as I am, and I suppose I can try to understand that, haha.

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Workin' on Parliament Hill

2007-05-13T15:45:00.000-03:00

Parliament Hill with Jenna (Bridgewater, NS) and Maryse (Charlo, NB).

The Library of Parliament

Now I know that again, I have not been incredibly regular in my blogging duties... And again, I have an excuse? I suppose it will be up to you to decide if it is legitimate or not... Well, here it is: I've been living in Ottawa and working at Parliament Hill!! How freaking exciting is that! And in all seriousness, it has been keeping me really, really busy, requiring copious amounts of sleep, which I have been having a hard time to get during the week, so I decided to do a little catching up this weekend. So please, do forgive me, but please do enjoy what blogging I am able to do :)

I moved to Ottawa a little over two weeks ago, and it sure has been busy! I'm sharing an apartment with a girl who is currently guiding at Parliament, Martha, and I'm so lucky that we get along so well! In the short amount of time that we've lived together, we've already become great friends, which is awesome :) The apartment is in a fantastic location too... Only 3 blocks from downtown (Rideau Street) and 20 minutes from Parliament Hill. Though the building is slightly sketchy, the apartment itself is very nice, which is all that really matters I guess :)

The Guides outside of Rideau Hall, residence of the Govenor General.

Peter Milliken, Speaker of the House of Commons, and I.

As for training, we've been hard at work these past two weeks. There was a great mix of real work and good laughs, intense sessions and fun field-trips. We had some presentations on lots of historical aspects of government, such as social progress, confederation and constitutional evolution, as well as some other important issues such as important people, architecture, art, process and learning styles. We've also had presentations from both Speakers of the House of Commons and the Senate, as well as both Clerks of the House of Commons and Senate. We met with Toronto MP Bill Graham, and Alberta Senator Claudette Tardif, as well as the Parliamentary Carillonneur, Gordon Slater, who is the person that plays the enormous set of bells in the Peace Tower. And luckily for me, I've see famous faces such as those of Michael Ignatieff, Stéphane Dion, Gilles Duceppe, Stockwell Day, Jim Flaherty and Gordon O'Connor, which really excites me, haha. Nerd, nerd, I know, I've heard it before.

Carleen (Edmonton, AB), Me (Campbellton, NB), Ben (Ottawa, ON), Julie (Jean-Côté, AB), Julie (Gatineau, QC) and Zsuzsi (Toronto, ON).

As for the social side of things, the people in the Guide Program are absolutely fantastic. There are students from all across the country who are incredibly outgoing, funny and wonderful. Our managers, or Interpretation Officers (IOs) as they are called, are also great! They're young, hilarious, understanding and helpful, and they're all in favor of having an awesome summer :) Us guides have gotten together a number of times for themed parties, nights of dancing, cheering for the Ottawa Senators, and studying the famed Interprakit, the enormous binder full of everything you could ever possibly need to know about Parliament.

The four MTA students! Jenna (Bridgewater, NS), Stephen (Ottawa, ON), Liz (Ottawa, ON), Me (Campbellton, NB).

Some lovely ladies in uniform! Me (Campbellton, NB), Tejas (Vancouver, BC), Liz (Ottawa, ON), Julie (Gatineau, QC), Melissa (Hamilton, ON).

And now I should really get back to working on my tour! My first shift is tomorrow morning, and I can hardly believe I'm supposed to be able to give a complete tour of Parliament on my own, no notes, no help, nothing, haha. A bit of an overwhelming feeling, but I'm sure it will be an interesting day nonetheless! Talk soon!

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Sooo, that was first year, huh?

2007-04-27T18:40:00.000-03:00

Okay, I know what you're all thinking. You can say it, really. You can say that I'm a bad person, that I've neglected my blogging duties and that you're all angry will me. It's okay, I understand. But hey, I do have good excuses:

I was studying for exams
I was writing exams
I was packing
I was saying my goodbyes
I came home
I was still packing
I work at Parliament now!

So yeah, I've been pretty busy, what with packing and wrapping up the first year of my university career! And what a year it's been. I can hardly believe that it's already over; it seems like just yesterday I was packing my life into
Rubbermaid totes, ready to head out and start a new life, in a new place, with new people. And then, before I knew it, I was packing up my life again, and heading out on another adventure, this time to Parliament Hill, for a summer experience that I'm sure I'll never forget. Being home was a nice rest stop, but for some reason, coming home is always a bit strange. My room doesn't feel as familiar or as comfortable as my room in Harper, even though I have pretty much the best bed of life. I don't sleep as well sometimes, probably because people just get up way too early in my house, haha, and its even weird to see how your relationships with certain people just aren't the same anymore. So I do think that it's true what they say -- that once you leave, you can never go home again. You can always go back to visit, but it will never be home, in its' truest sense, again. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing. We all need to grow up, to test our wings and stand on our own two feet. Which, in turn, allows us to create a new home of our very own. For me, my new home is at Mount Allison, and it will always be a sense of deep comfort to me, even long after I'm gone, just like my home in Campbellton will always be. Home isn't just a place, a building or a word. It's a feeling, it's people, it's relationships, and it's memories. Home is wherever you are, and wherever you've been, and wherever you love and cherish. I love Mount A.

Being away this summer is also a strange experience. I'm away from both of my homes, missing two lives, two sets of people, two places I love. But Ottawa is already beginning to set its roots in me, and I have the strong feeling that when it is time to leave Parliament and the capital city, that I will again, be missing yet another home of mine. I guess that's what it is to grow up though... To move, to live, to experience, to remember and to make connections with as many people and places as we can. And this summer, well, that is definitely what I'm doing. As a Parliamentary Guide, not only will I meet those that I lead on tours around our country's government buildings, but I will have the opportunity to meet 39 other university students from across Canada who are just like me. I've only known most of these people for a few days now, and I can already tell that these people will soon become friends that will last a lifetime, and that I will miss a great deal when the summer comes to an end. Leave one place, miss the life, leave another, and miss that life too. A never ending cycle, but a positive one, so long as we look back on the memories with fondness and a smile on our face.

So, I'll be continuing this blog all summer long, telling you about my wonderful tales from Parliament. Now I'm not sure how I'm going to keep this very "Mount A focussed", though there are 5 MTA students (including myself), working on the Hill this summer. 4 of us are guides in the Center Block, while 1 is a guide in the East Block. So I guess this is a great way to show you guys what MTA students are capable of, and the great opportunities that exist for us students :) I'll do my best to post once a week, though it is pretty hectic around here, and I'll do my best with regards to pictures and such too, particularly if I can snag any of famous people, haha. I've seen a few MPs already, and a Cabinet Minister, which was pretty exciting. And, we're meeting the Speaker of the House of Commons tomorrow, which is also great! Oh, I'm such a political nerd... Oh, that picture up there is of me sitting in Rona Ambrose's seat in the House of Commons! :D

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Coming to a close

2007-04-02T10:36:00.000-03:00

I honestly don't know where this year has gone. It seems like just the other day I was moving into an unfamiliar and empty room, in a House where I knew almost no one, and now, on this last Monday of classes, I have a hard time imagining being anywhere else. This year has been one of ups and downs, good and bad experiences, but for the most part, it has been fantastic and rewarding. I have made countless new friends, expanded my academics, learned some important life lessons, and had some serious fun. Now this, this is a good year.

The whole campus seems to be drawing into wrap-up mode, with elections, grad activities, studying for finals, summer plans and even some packing going on. Year-end recitals, concerts and parties are going on, and luckily, I've been blessed by the gods of academia with a very light load of work these last few weeks. This means that I've been pretty much free to take everything in, and now I can tell you all about it!

Harper Hall 2006/2007!

Alright, now Wednesday night was the Harper Hall Banquet. This is a great end-of-year event, where all us Harperites gather together at the campus Pub for dinner, a slide show, awards, and the inauguration of next year's House Executive (President- Brent Williams, Social Chair- Mike McKinnon, Secretary/Treasurer- Jessica Davidson). The slide show was absolutely hilarious, with a Star Wars Episode theme, and tons of great pictures bringing back all kinds of good memories :)

Mike McKinnon (new Social Chair), Sandenn Killoran (current Social Chair), Brent Williams (new President), Brian Crouse (current President), Jessica Davidson (new Secretary/Treasurer) and Ben Goldberg (current Secretary/Treasurer).

The SAC also came to an end on Wednesday night, when our last meeting took place. The power was transferred back to the Executive and all the final appointments were made. It's pretty sad to be done with the SAC, especially since I won't be a councilor or representative on it next year. But the people who will be working on the SAC are awesome, and if you're interested in student government, next year's SAC is going to be a great place to get involved!

The Swing Society also had its formal ending with a delicious pot luck on Thursday night. There was food, dancing, laughing, and of course, Jenga. All four instructors are graduating this year, so Aldous and I have been left in charge of the society. But Mandy, Jerrod, Casey and Lindsay, you will be deeply missed next year :( But hey, prospective students, don't let that keep you from joining the Swing Society next year! Aldous and I have learned a ton from these guys over the past year, and we even choreographed this year's routine, which can be seen on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrZHDzqAwaM. Also, the swing routine from the JUMP Campaign can be seen on You Tube as well, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VKk9DI6SWg.

The ASCARS, with hosts Erica Hendry (SAC President 2006/2007) and Marianne Green (SAC President 2007/2008).

The ASCARS also took place this weekend, setting the stage for a fabulous Saturday night. The ASCARS are an awards show, kind of like the Oscars, but for Mount A students. Some of the awards include Frosh & Upperclassman of the Year, Movement/Organization of the Year, Residence of the Year, Residence Party of the Year, Off-Campus House of the Year, Off-Campus Party of the Year, ASCAR Hall of Fame Award, Dons of the Year, Band/Solo Artist of the Year and Theatre Production of the Year.

Two Hours Traffic, from Charlottetown, PEI.

Now no awards show is complete without an after-party... Sooo, Campbell Hall hosted two bands, Windom Earle and Two Hours Traffic, in Hesler Hall! They were both awesome, though Two Hours Traffic was my personal favorite!

Now that all the fun has been had, I will unfortunately be living in the library with my head buried deep inside my books for the next two and a half weeks. But after that, I'm off to Ottawa, to have myself a great summer! :D

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Two more to go

2007-03-25T19:21:00.000-03:00

At supper this evening, my friend Stephen and I were just discussing how unbelievable it is to be able to say that this year is pretty much over, save for exams of course. Only two weeks of classes are left, and then the dreaded exams start hovering overhead, forcing me to spend much more time in the library than I'd like to. I think it's going to be especially hard for me to force myself to study for this set of finals, what with the weather getting nicer and nicer, and the wonderful sunlight lingering longer and longer every evening. Also, I just can't wait to get a move on with my plans for the summer! I've been selected to work as a Parliamentary Guide at the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario this summer, and I couldn't be more excited :) Two other Mount A students were selected as well, Liz and Jenna, which is great because I'll at least know two other people before I even get there. I'll be living in an apartment in downtown Ottawa with a 1st year Law student, Martha, and the apartment is so nice, I can hardly believe my good luck! On the other hand, it's going to be tough to not be home for the summer, and it's going to be even harder to say goodbye to everyone here, even if it's only for four and a half months. Fraser will be studying French in Chicoutimi, Quebec for 5 weeks, then working at a children's camp in Naramata, British Columbia for the rest of the summer. Yes, I'll miss him like crazy, but we're both going to be having such great experiences, so how could we ask for anything different? I'm sure four and a half months will pass more quickly than we think...

I've been doing some thinking about my blog lately, and I realized that I don't always bring in the academic side of Mount A too often. I guess I take it for granted that everyone knows that there is a lot of education going on in the classrooms, so I focus on the learning that goes on outside of the classroom. But I suppose that's not really fair, now is it? So let me tell you a little about an academic related event that happened this week. Kirsten, MTA's VP Academic, put on an Academic Awareness Week, including a number of different sessions dealing with issues such as procrastination, preparing for fourth year and graduation, the international exchange experience and choosing courses, majors and minors. I attended the Academic Fair that took place on the balcony of meal hall, and it was a really good experience. There were representatives from each department, desserts, music, the works. Any questions you could possibly have had about your degree or course selections could easily have been answered there. I also went to the International Exchange Experience session, which was very informative, and set out all the options for international exchange. Did you know that there are something like 14 different exchanges available for MTA students? And on top of that, many students prepare and complete independent exchanges to many more countries? There are so many opportunities!

Now for the dance recital! Put on by the Dance Society, the end of the year recital, titled Last Chance to Dance featured jazz, hip hop, lyrical, ballet, swing, salsa and international dances. It was a huge success! We had three shows (one on Friday night and two on Saturday afternoon) and all three were oversold-out, haha. They had to add extra chairs to each performance, and that made for a stellar crowd each time. These are a couple pictures of some swing and salsa dancers, as well as members of the Dance Society. The one above is of Denise, Meaghan, Aldous and I, with a large tuft of Scott's hair, haha.

A picture of me and Aldous with the 4 current instructors, Casey, Lindsay, Mandy and Jerrod, who are all graduating this year, and have passed the Swing Society down to Aldous and I!

A very fun picture of the six of us :)

Some of the Swing dancers also performed both officially and unofficially at two other great events that happened this weekend. Jazz at Jennings is put on by the MTA Jazz Ensemble, and features, obviously, the MTA Jazz Band, as well as some of MTA's finest vocal artists. We Swing dancers, and some wannabes, haha, danced the night away to some awesome music! On Saturday night, the Swing Society also performed at the Society of All Nations banquet, where there was great food, music, dance and other entertainment, put on by many of MTA's international and non-international students. A great weekend all around!

Well that about sums up my life as of late, I hope it gives you a little bit of an inside glance into what life's like here at MTA and all the opportunities that are available for you. As always, please feel free to e-mail me with questions, comments or just to say 'hi' :)

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Just plain fun!

2007-03-18T15:12:00.000-03:00

So this week, this weekend in particular, has been so much fun! A wonderful, well deserved (I think) break from all of the end of term work that's been going on. So, you may be wondering just what on earth this first picture is. Well, allow me to introduce you to one of my best friends, Kelly, who just seems to have a knack for creating animal shapes out of just about anything. It all started in Meal Hall one day at lunch when she starting playing around with rice crispy squares. She made a giraffe, hippo, cobra and a few other very cool shapes. Now, with Easter just around the corner, she treats us by bringing those little chocolate eggs to Economics class and she made these animals out of the wrappers. Now the four in the back (left to right) are a tiger, with me riding it, a lama, with Fraser riding it, a bird and a giraffe. The two in the front are a crocodile and and elephant. Now this may seem really really stupid and lame, but you try making animal shapes out of Easter egg tinfoil wrappers. No small feat, let me tell you. Anyway, I just thought that this was pretty damn hilarious, and well, Kelly was feeling rather hurt that she hadn't been in my blog yet. So Kelly, if you're reading this (which you should be), here's your moment of glory, enjoy it! Feel free to e-mail me if you'd like to place an order for your very own tinfoil animals. They make great gifts. Ha.

Ahh, Urinetown! For any of you theater junkies out there, you've perhaps heard of this fantastically hilarious Broadway musical, but if not, well you'd best go see it if you can, haha! The story line behind the musical is just great, and involves a town falling victim to a great water shortage, and a private corporation taking over the water works and charging people to use the private washrooms they control. As always, there is the hero of the story who rebels against the evil corporation and spurs a revolution for freedom. The picture above is of Bobby Strong, the hero of the story, played by my good friend Brett, a first year student, and Hope Cladwell, the daughter of the man who runs the evil corporation who falls in love with Bobby, played by another friend of mine, Sarah, also a first year student.

This is a shot of the entire cast during the finale, bringing an end to this fantastic musical by Black Tie Productions. The show ran from Wednesday to Saturday, where they put on both a matinee and evening show. The cast was composed of 16 great students and community members with a production team of almost the same size. So, as you can see, it was a fantastic team effort by both Mount Allison and Sackville, with a final product that had me laughing and smiling the whole way through!

Swing dancing!!! And so many other kinds of dancing that have been going on this week, all in preparation for next weekend's end of the year dance recital! So, so, so exciting :0 These few pictures are of some members of the MTA Swing Society, practicing this year's great routine. Unfortunately, I'm not dancing in the show this year as my partner, Fraser, is performing in a play that is being performed the same weekend as the show. But, I helped choreograph some of the routine with my friend Aldous, seen in the picture above doing a Cherry Drop with a wonderful dancer, Mandy :) Aldous did most of the choreographing for this number, and it's set to a song from The Mask Soundtrack, Hey Pachuco, for those of you into Jazz music :P It's a really fast number, and just tons of fun to do :) The Salsa Society, which I'm also a part of, has been practicing really hard as well, and Aldous and I will be dancing in that number, set to Mya's Do You Only Wanna Dance from the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack. Very, very hot, let's just say that, haha.

Casey and Lindsay in an Uber Dip.

Many and Jerrod freestyling because they don't know their solo yet, with Meaghan in the background, joining in on the fun, haha.

So there's a taste of some of the fun things I've been up to this weekend! I also went to a concert on Friday night at George's Roadhouse, a really great bar that brings in tons of great music. The concert featured Jenn Grant, a fabulous singer/songwriter from Halifax, and In Flight Safety, a band that formed at MTA and has gone on to win several East Coast Music awards. They have a great sound, sort of like Coldplay, and put on a great live performance. My friend has some pictures from the night, so I'll try and get them up on here as soon as I get a hold of them :) Until then, keep smiling!

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

March Madness

2007-03-12T17:03:00.000-03:00

'Fragments of Recollection' - one of the three plays performed by Windsor Theater last weekend.

Just one of the many posters with environmentally-friendly living suggestions on them.

A 'Campus Climate Challenge' badge that many students are wearing to show their support.

Alex, Me and Colin at the Harper Floor Crawl.

The Harper Floor Crawl - jam packed with fun!

Well, March is said to be one of the craziest months for university students, and I guess we're all starting to feel that very apparent reality these days. What with so many events taking place, so much school work to get done and final exams fast approaching, people are certainly looking for some good distractions from reality. Luckily for them, there are tons of things going on and I'll be filling you in on a few of the events I've been taking part in the last little while.

I suppose we'll go in the order of the pictures I've posted for you this week. So, let's start with Windsor Theater. Windsor Theater is a fantastic theater group here on campus, and they hold several performances throughout the year. Many of the plays are directed by students from the Drama Department, and some of them are original works. A great set of three one-act plays were performed last weekend, and they were all student directed and two of them were original works; Fragments of Recollection, which was a collaborative script, written by the three actors and the student-director, and Salad and Cake, written by a Drama student and Psychology student. The third play was Speaking Well of the Dead, the only unoriginal piece, which was written to commemorate the victims of 9/11 and their families. All three plays were wonderfully done with strong acting and directing all around.

Another big event that's been happening around campus is the 'Campus Climate Challenge', being put on by MTA's Eco-Action Society. This society has been busy promoting simple lifestyle changes that students can make in order to reduce the amount of energy they use, which in turn, is of course better for the environment. They will be monitoring each residence's energy use, and the house with the biggest reduction in their level of energy use will win an energy efficient big screen TV for their house lounge. A pretty sweeeet prize if you ask me! I think it's such a good idea to really promote green living on campus; there are so many intelligent and responsible students here that it seems like the perfect group of people to really band together and make a difference in the environment.

The highlight of my weekend was the Harper Floor Crawl, which happened in my residence on Saturday night. The theme of the event was 'A Tribute to Residence Life 2006/2007'. Since Harper has 4 floors (combining the basement with the first floor) we decided to celebrate the best house parties of the year. 4th floor was Bennett and Bigelow's 'City Slicks and Country Hicks', 3rd was 'Cancun Campbell', 2nd was Windsor's 'Mardi Gras' and 1st/basement was none other than the party of the year, 'Harper Havoc'. Each floor was responsible for their own decoration and clean up, and it turned out to be such a great party! About 250 people showed up, all packed onto one floor at a time, dancing the night away. It was a great time, thanks to great team efforts by each floor!

Well, that's the lowdown on what's been happening in my life and here at MTA the last little while! As always, work is continuing and I have a midterm and a paper on Friday, so I best hop to that. Also, I've decided to run as an Arts Senator, which is a student who sits on both the Students' Administrative Council (SAC) and the University Senate, representing students' academic concerns. I'm also applying to be a writer for our school newspaper, The Argosy, so that's exciting as well. It's true what they say; there are a million and one ways to get involved at MTA!

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

P.S. - As always, feel free to e-mail me with any questions, comments, suggestions... I love feedback :)

It's a small world afterall...!

2007-03-03T12:54:00.000-04:00

Britta, my friend from Germany, and I (Campbellton, 2006)

Devan, Kyle, Sakura and I, with our Chinese friend, Jackson, in the middle (China, 2004)

Where the world feels smaller, MTA (Fall 2006)

Fridays were always a good day in high school, because there seemed to be a different kind of energy in the air on those days; everyone was in a better mood, less work got done, and people talked about their plans for the weekend. Fridays are a different kind of wonderful now, and I most certainly still enjoy them a great deal. Friday afternoons are probably the highlight of my week, as I finish class at 1:20, have lunch, go to my voice lesson, and I'm free, absolutely free. That feeling is one that I always look forward to; the feeling that I don't have any work to do that day, because it's Friday afternoon, and it's pretty much my one afternoon off. Wonderful.

Now yesterday, Friday afternoon, I wasn't free like I normally would have been. I had an External Affairs meeting, and then a Bloggers' meeting, but that's alright. The Bloggers' meeting was actually quite interesting, and as the discussion turned to many different topics, it eventually reached a point where I was reminded of a memory from a month or two ago, a memory which reminded me how small the world really is. I was walking back to my residence, Harper, on again, a Friday afternoon, having just come from the grocery store, when I met a Chinese student whom I'd never spoken to before. So, I made some conversation, asking her where she was from and such, and she said that she was from Beijing. I happily informed her that I had visited Beijing two summers ago, and asked if she knew of the Concord College of Sino-Canada, where my exchange had taken place. It turned out that she had actually been a student there, and I eagerly asked her if she knew of Wao Mung, who's English name was Sally, and who was my Chinese partner during my exchange. And what blew my mind was the fact that in a city of over 15 million people, and a world of over 6 billion, she knew just who I was talking about. In fact, they were quite good friends, and said that she would said 'hi' to her for me the next time they spoke. I'm always baffled when I think back on this, and I'm reminded of other situations that I've experienced, similar to this. Like the man from Ottawa I met in the airport in Zurich who was a frequent visitor to my cousins' restaurant in Ottawa, or the girl I met at an interview for the Parliamentary Guide Program who grew up in the town next to mine. And this, this is how Mount Allison is for so many students. You meet people from across the country and around the world, and there is always something in common between you. It's an awesome feeling, and is one that makes you feel like you've finally found home.

The ways that we are able to communicate with one another are the main reason for this 'small world' feeling, I think. I mean, I can pick up the phone right now and call my parents who are vacationing in Florida, or I can call one of my best friends, Britta, in Gommern, Germany, just to see what she's been up to. I mailed her a Valentine's Day package, and even though she lives across the ocean and thousands of miles away, it got to her. My old vice principal, Gilbert Cyr, was our chaperon for two of the trips to Europe I took, and he met someone that he knew in almost every single airport or city we visited. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

Now, today seems like a magnificent day! It's Saturday, for starters, which means I got to sleep in until like 11:00, which is, as you can see in my profile, one of my favorite pass times. The sun is shining in full force, and it's a wonderful 5 degrees. I should go for a walk or something this afternoon... I absolutely love the feeling of spring, and even though it snowed a bunch last night, the temperatures look to be getting warmer and warmer. When I was home for Reading Week, I had my window open and it smelled like Spring. Can anyone else smell Spring other than me? I hope so, because it is such a fresh, happy smell :)

Well, I think that about sums up how I'm feeling about life in general for today! I've got some reading to do, and a Psychology midterm to study for, and hopefully a walk to take, which would be nice. As always, please feel free to e-mail me with anything: questions, comments, suggestions, or just to say 'hi'. I always like to hear from those of you who are reading this :)

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Back to reality...

2007-02-24T16:42:00.000-04:00

Fraser, Me and Aldous taking a break from snowboarding

Aldous, Fraser and I snowshoeing

Aldous and I laying on Lake Prichard

Aldous doing crazy ski tricks at Mont Restigouche

Fraser and I :)

Well, Reading Week break has come to a close, and it’s back to the Sack for me. Thankfully, I’ve caught up on most of my sleep, though I’m the type of person who needs about 10 hours every night, if possible. I slept ‘til noon almost everyday... It was simply blissful.

So, what did we do over break? Well, Aldous and Fraser hiked up Sugarloaf Mountain in the snow one day, but I was still recovering from two overly-intense days at the gym, so I didn’t tag along. We did, however, go snowshoeing around and on Prichard’s Lake for a few hours, which was really beautiful and fun! An evening of snowboarding at Sugarloaf Park was a really good time; it was Aldous’ third time and Fraser’s second time. Aldous got the hang of it really quickly, and by the end of the night he could carve better than I could, and certainly had more guts than I did, because he was taking jumps and attempting 360s, haha. Fraser got a little tired of hitting his head so damn hard, so half way through, after breaking one of his bindings, he switched to skis, which were much more familiar to him. The boys also went downhill skiing yesterday at Mont Restigouche in Quebec, and from the videos they made, it seems as though they had a pretty good time; backflips, 360s, making their own trails through the trees... They’re so extreme, haha. We saw some good movies too; An Incovenient Truth, Little Miss Sunshine and The Illusionist. They were all really good, rent them if you haven’t already! :)

Aldous and Fraser got a lot of work done, especially when they got up in the mornings at like 9:00... Craziness. I got my presentation done for my interview for the Parliamentary Guide Program, and it’s pretty cool. I did it on Tetes a claques, which is a French-language website that posts absolutely hilarious skits about ridiculous situations. Again, it’s at www.tetesaclaques.tv if you want to check it out, which I recommend you do! I also got some reading for Religion done, though I still have more, of course. I was supposed to have a German midterm on Friday morning, but funny, our professor simply didn’t show up. So, now I have to re-study for that test, which will be on Monday. Tres annoying.

On the bright side, Stuart McLean is coming to Convocation Hall on Sunday afternoon, and I’ve got a ticket! :) He’s a radio personality on CBC Radio, and always tells the most amusing stories on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Hopefully, Aldous, his girlfriend Jess, Fraser and I will be going out to dinner on Friday night, since Jess and I handily beat them in a best out of 5 pool match last weekend. Also, Ballet Jorgen will be performing Romeo & Juliet in Convocation Hall on Saturday night, which should be wonderful :) Oh, but wait a minute. I think Hunton House is holding their St. Patrick’s Day party this Saturday, which should be a blast! Speaking of parties, Harper is holding a massive Floor Crawl not this Saturday, but next, and the theme is going to be a tribute to all of the best House Parties of the year, ending with Harper Havoc, which was by far the best, ahem. Haha.

Now, I know that this blog has been pretty un-MTA related, but well, I’ve been pretty un-MTA related for the last week, haha. But, I am very excited to get back to school and see all my friends again! Just one more month of classes left and then finals start... I can hardly believe it, haha. It’s going to be nice to have a four month break, but it’s going to be so hard to be away from everyone for so long! I wish that the time we were in high school was shorter, and the time we’re in university was longer...

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

P.S. - Oh!! I just remembered such exciting news!! My best friend from home, Sacha, has decided to come to MTA next year!!! I’m so excited!!! :D

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

2007-02-18T14:02:00.000-04:00

I am writing to you today from The Ocean, a northbound Via Rail train, and I’m heading for home, which for me, is Campbellton, New Brunswick. My boyfriend, Fraser, and my good friend, Aldous, are both on board as well, and will be spending this Reading Week with me. Fraser is from a town just south of Edmonton, Alberta, while Aldous is from Victoria, British Columbia, so it would be just a tad more expensive for them to go home. So, they’re coming to the North Shore with me, and I’m excited! Fraser has already been to Campbellton over Remembrance Day weekend, but it’s Aldous’ first time. Aldous is a real outdoors and travel guy; he’s backpacked to more countries than I can count, and has even worked in the Yukon during the summers as a kind of outdoor adventure guide, involving a lot of kayaking, rafting, canoeing, mountaineering, hiking and fishing. And, since Campbellton, and New Brunswick in general, are very nature and outdoor oriented, Aldous is very excited that we have plans to go cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, snowboarding and hiking while we’re at home. I’m pretty excited too, because I haven’t gotten to do any of these things in ages!

This past week has been a tad strange; it’s been both wonderful and disappointing, busy and relaxed. As most of you probably realized, Valentine’s Day was Wednesday, and I have to say, it was the best Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had, and it was complete with red and white carnations, dinner and coffee, a beautiful card, and the most adorable stuffed beaver you’ll ever see. He came with the name Bibbers, but I decided I would name him whatever the German word for “beaver” was. After I searched it, it turned out to be “biber”, which is quite a crazy coincidence. So, Biber it is!

Now, that was the wonderful part of the week. The disappointing part was the three mediocre marks that I got back in Psychology, Macroeconomics and Western Religions. The material in those courses isn’t extremely challenging, and I felt very confident going into the midterms. A lot of the questions on the tests were multiple choice, which I’m not a big fan of, because you’re either 100% right or 100% wrong, with no points for effort, partial knowledge or things like that. But that’s not my biggest problem with multiple choice exams; it’s the fact that some professors seem to look specifically for questions that will trick you, or ask such obscure questions that you remember reading about that piece of information, but thinking it to be such a minute detail that you focussed your attention on more central and important information. I just don’t believe it to be a good reflection of the professor or the testing method used when students like me, who understand, complete all the assigned readings, attend and pay attention in every class, come out of the midterm with a pretty average mark. I work to get above average marks, and it’s just frustrating when you’re not able to achieve those marks because of these reasons.

This week was busy and exciting in the sense that elections have been happening everywhere; House Executive elections in my residence, Harper, as well as in the residence next door, Campbell, where a bunch of my friends live, as well as for the Executive of the Students’ Administrative Council (SAC). Several of my friends from home ran for different positions, and there seems to be a great Campbellton presence on the North Side of campus this year: Mayme and another girl, Gillian (not from Campbellton, though) are the new Co-Presidents of Campbell Hall, while Alex and another guy, Dan (again, not from Campbellton), will be the Co-Social Chairs of Campbell. And finally, Brent, a guy I grew up with at home, is the new President of Harper. Next year should be awesome with executive teams like those!

I have an interview for a job that I want more badly than I’ve wanted anything in a very long time. The job is a position as a Parliamentary Guide in Ottawa, Ontario, and the interview will be on February 28. I have to give a 3 minute presentation with no notes, and it can be about absolutely anything except Parliament. Normally I would love this kind of assignment; I’m a big fan of public speaking, and participated in contests all through middle school and high school, but I just can’t seem to pick a topic. Right now I’m debating between the concept of home, and the hit Quebec website, Tetes-a-Claques. Tetes-a-Claques would be absolutely hilarious, and a very fun presentation. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go to www.tetesaclaques.tv and check it out for yourself. You need to understand French, though, haha.)

So, let’s get to my lesson-learning section of the week.

1. Stuffed beavers are wonderful, cute, and can make you smile even when you’re having the worst day ever.
2. Going to the gym/getting exercise is important, and makes you feel great about yourself.
3. Don’t let yourself get down about marks that aren’t quite what you want. Learn from the experience by studying harder for the next test, and always know your true potential.
4. Valentine’s is more than a corporate holiday; it’s the perfect opportunity to tell those you love exactly how you feel about them.

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Weekends, you should really come more often!

2007-02-09T16:29:00.000-04:00

What a relief! I thought Friday would never get here this week! When I think back on this past week with all I've had to do, I'm amazed I'm not still running around like a chicken with my head cut off! But, today, is Friday, and I think that this has to be my favorite day of the week, because it's the one day when I don't feel guilty about not doing any work. Saturday and Sunday are good and fine, but the afternoons are prime working time. But Fridays - oh Fridays - they are positively blissful. I go to my morning classes, have lunch, hang around residence, go to a voice lesson, relax some more, have some supper and get ready for a fantastic Friday night. No work! TGIF!

So, why was this week so crazy, you may ask? Well, for starters, I had three midterms: Psychology, Macroeconomics and Western Religions. They weren't intense studying, but still, it definitely involved some serious library time, which is always unfortunate. Also, as some of you may have heard, Mount Allison officially launched it's JUMP Campaign, which aims to raise $86 million for MTA over the next 10 years. The money will go towards three main areas: Teaching & Research, Student Life, and Community Outreach. Now, as a part of MTA's Swing Society, we were asked to perform a swing number (jumping... swing...?) as the opening for the launch ceremony. So, there have been tons of extra practices, and this week was crunch time. But, it turned out to be well worth it; the dance went amazingly well, and the Jazz Band that performed with us did a fantastic job. It was stressful to get it going, but it makes me so excited for our end of the year performance :)

Mmm, what else was big this week? Ohh! The day of action! So here's the deal: As a member of the External Relations Committee, led by our VP External, Mal Baxter, we, along with dozens of other schools across the country, held a day of action supporting a reduction in tuition costs for students, to be funded by the provincial government. We had free hot chocolate, hot dogs and veggie dogs all day long on Wednesday, and it was freezing cold while we were out there rallying support, let me tell you, haha. It was an awesome time, and we got tons of signatures on our letters to the New Brunswick Premier and Sackville's MLA. Sweet!

Now, this weekend is shaping up quite nicely! My best friend from home, Sacha, arrived on the train this afternoon and she's here until Sunday afternoon! She's thinking about coming to MTA and I'm trying to show her the best possible time so that maybe she'll come here :) We're heading to a play this evening at Windsor Theatre. It's titled Saltwater Moon and it's a two person production, and my good friend Kyle is one of the two actors. Then I believe we're heading to a campaign party for SAC Presidential candidate Marianne Greene, which should most definitely be a good time. We've been discussing the possibility of heading into Moncton tomorrow on the bus for some shopping, and attending the Valentine's Day Ball being put on by the Yellow Ribbon Society, a campus society that raises money for the Canadian Cancer Society. Ah, and Sunday will be recuperation I believe...

Now, I really liked my last little bit in last week's blog. You know, the whole thing about what I learned this week? Let's see what I can come up with this time.

1. Sacha is my soul mate, and I love that girl to death.
2. It's all a question of time management; you can have your cake and eat it too!
3. Swing dancing makes me smile.
4. There are too many Hebrew terms in Judaism.

Well, maybe those weren't serious lessons, but they're fun ones, and I'm in a super good mood, so ha! Rock on guys, have a great weekend! :D

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

Oh, the choices!

2007-02-01T17:58:00.000-04:00

Choices are so fundamental to the entire University experience. You'll obviously make a few bad ones, but hopefully most of them will be good. But most importantly, I hope most of them will be wise.

I don't think I've ever been quite so overwhelmed with choices, or the consequences of choices. First off, I made the decision to pass up a role in this year's production of "The Wizard of Oz" in favor of attending a Model United Nations Conference put on by McGill University in Montreal. Both were big time commitments, just in different ways. The Wizard of Oz was really quite spread out, but McMUN was one big event that took me away from classes and got me behind in work in a significant way. McMUN was so awesome though; I got to know a lot of students from MTA I hadn't known before, and got to meet tons of students from all across Canada, the US and parts of Europe too. I'd never been to a Model UN conference before, and it was a fantastic first experience. Montreal is a fabulous city too, and I mean hey, the parties were a pretty good time too, haha.

But that 17 hour train ride home was a long one, what with writing a paper for my Western Religions class and thinking about the mountain of reading I had waiting for me back in my room. And upon my arrival not only was there reading for me to do; oh no, there was much much more. I had a midterm this week, I have 3 next week, an Economics assignment due on Tuesday and all kinds of extracurriculars going on too. A few of us from the Swing Society are putting together a swing dance routine for Mount Allison's JUMP Campaign, and we're rehersing several times a week. As part of the External Affairs Committee, I'm helping to plan a national day of action that involves asking the provincial government to give more funding to universities in order to reduce tuition fees, making post-secondary more affordable for everyone. So yeah, if you want some advice, never leave Sackville for 5 days, haha.

Now, those are all the consequences of one simple choice I made back in... November? Haha, that seems like aaaages ago now. And speaking of that, it's February 1st! Where the heck did all of January go? They've already released the April Exam Schedule, and that's a little bit scary for me. I mean, I'm almost done 1st year... It's passed by soo quickly, it's unreal! Only two more months of classes and I'm leaving for 4 months. Funny how I don't even want to leave this place. I'd rather stay here I think, than have to leave my friends and my boyfriend for 4 months... My boyfriend, Fraser, is from Alberta, and he's hoping to spend part of his summer in Quebec on a French Language Exchange and the other part either back home, or in British Columbia at a children's camp. As for me, I have an interview at the end of this month for a position as a Parliamentary Guide in Ottawa, which would be absolutely phenomenal! But saying goodbye to everyone all over again? Ouf, I'm not looking forward to that. Not at all.

Hrm, now where was I actually planning on going with this? ... Oh! Yeah! Choices... Fun fun fun. Fum fum fum. Isn't that a Christmas song? ... Moving on. Yeah, choices! Now see, as I mentioned before, I live in Harper Hall, the most supercool residence there is, and probably ever will be. Yeah, we're that cool. Anywho, considering my absolute passion and love for this residence, I was planning on running as President of House Council this year. However, I also applied to be a Residence Assistance, which would also allow me to express my love for this place. Sooo, here's the catch. I had an interview for the RA position, and I've been offered the position, but, I have to let them know if I accept it by Monday, February 5! The elections for House Council only happen the week after that, so if I want to run for President, I have to refuse the RA position. But what if I don't win the election? Then I'm left with no position at all, which would be really kind of crappy. Sooo, I'm leaning towards the RA position as of now. You get paid a whole lot more, which is cool. But you don't plan sweet parties. But you can help. This is going in circles, totally pointless. I think I should call my Mum, she's super wise. (I know what you're thinking. In high school, I didn't think my parents knew much about what it was like to be a teenager. But, unfortunately and fortunately, they actually do. I guess we just listen better when we're 4 hours away.)

So, what have I learned these past few weeks? Let's see.

1. Make choices based on what you want the most.
2. Be prepared to handle what comes from those choices; be it good, or bad.
3. Never let yourself get overwhelmed. Step back, take a look at the big picture, but then focus on one assignment, one meeting, one day at a time.
4. Laugh a lot; it makes you feel amazing. I can thank my friend Ben for that.
5. Don't hold back. Get what you want.

Well, now that, that was cool. I think this blog is really good for me; it makes me reflect, take time to really sort things out and think, stuff I wouldn't normally find the time for. Awesome. You know what? I can do this. I can write these midterms, read all this stuff, pull off this dance, and smile the whole way through. What other choice do we have? Love life, that's it!

Always,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca

This is real, live Mount A!

2007-01-22T21:42:00.000-04:00

Well first of all, welcome to my very first blog here on the “MyMTA” site! I’ve never done one of these things before, but really, how hard can it be?

Now where to begin? I suppose I should introduce myself! The name’s Susan Humphrey, but you can call me Sue, and I’m from Campbellton, New Brunswick, a small town in Northern NB, right on the Quebec border. I graduated from Sugarloaf Senior High (Go Bruins Go!), and I’m a first year student here at Mount Allison. As of now I’m simply in the Bachelor of Arts programme, but I’m looking at doing Honours in International Relations, maybe some minors in Political Science, German or Religious Studies. I live in THE best residence on campus, Harper Hall, home of the Harper Havoc house party, sweet single rooms, great spirit and a direct connection to Jennings meal hall, which means that we don’t have to go outside to eat during the winter ☺ This has been especially nice these past few days as it’s been as cold as -35 C with the wind chill factored into ‘er. Ah, the joys of living in the Great White North, Canada!

Sooo, what else might you be looking to know about me? I’m pretty involved here at MTA – I’m Harper Hall’s Students’ Administrative Council (SAC) councillor, which is preeeeetty sweet since I get to represent my whole house at the University Council (kind of like Student Council in high school, but a tad cooler). I’m also involved in the External Affairs Committee, Academic Enrichment Committee and Harper’s House Council. But don’t get me wrong – I don’t just like sitting around in meetings all the time. I love tons of other things, like Model United Nations, the MTA Salsa Society and the MTA Swing Society, two really exciting dance groups here on campus. I had quite a lot of dance training before I got to MTA, but I’d certainly never had the chance to try these kinds of dance, and let me tell you, they are awesome! We’re getting ready to start our end of the year routines soon and I’m psyched! I also love music and theatre – I’m taking voice lessons here on campus and have been auditioning for a few plays and musicals. MTA has a phenomenal music department and three different theatre groups, Black Tie Productions, Windsor Theatre and Garnet & Gold, which put on several shows a year. There are a ton of other things that go on here, and there’s no way you can get involved in all of them, but there is definitely something here for everyone.

Now, through this blog I hope to be able to show you what Mount Allison is really like for students who go here. I was in the very same position as you less than a year ago, and I’ll do my best to answer those questions that can only be asked by someone who’s here, living their life at MTA. When I was in grade 12, I wanted to know what the people were like, if there was a lot of spirit, what made each residence different, if the professors were scary, classes huge and work overwhelming. I wanted to know if I would be happy here, if I would make lots of friends, if I would make this my new home. Fortunately for me, I am incredibly happy here, I’ve made friends that will last forever and I’m proud to call this school home. But like most things, this university’s not for everyone, and I hope I’ll be able to help you decide whether or not Mount Allison is the place for you.

So pleaaaaase, e-mail me, call me, write me, anything at all, and I’ll be more than happy to answer any questions you might have that I haven’t answered in my blog. And if I can’t answer your questions, I’ll be able to find you someone who can, no problem!

Yeaaah! So check back here every week for a new blog, maybe I’ll even post more than once a week, who knows! But definitely, at least once a week, I’ll be on here, typing away, giving you the low down on life at B-E-A-utiful MTA! Hope to see you back here!

Much love,

Sue

sjhumphrey@mta.ca