Hello there!

I am so excited to be joining the blogging world as an SMC blogger. Let's jump right in!

My name is Lauren (though some of my friends call me Ren), and I'm a first-year here at Saint Mike's. So much has happened in only one and a half semesters! In fact, I feel like time has passed so quickly, and I was feeling a bit nostalgic so I decided to do a recap of some of my favorite fall-semester moments using some old pictures:

 These two photos were taken on one of our very first days after moving in! It was our first time riding the bus into Burlington, and we all hardly knew each other! Above are Greta (L) and Sheila (R), and Danny and Cait are on the left making "serious" faces.

Here, I'm at Ben and Jerry's with my friend Frances, who goes to UVM--only a few minutes away from SMC! Frances and I went to high school together with Sheila, who is the one who took this lovely picture. Every time I look at this, I have to laugh at the random stranger behind us smiling at the camera!

 A bunch of friends joined Tanya (right) and I when we got our noses pierced together. At this time, Tanya and I had only known each other for a few weeks, but we've been friends ever since! After the piercings, we went with Cait and Danny (above) to Bruegger's Bagels, an awesome place to eat on Church Street.

We have such beautiful views in Vermont! There's a small open field just across the street from main campus where my friends and I like to have picnics in nice weather. 

Cait and her roommate Hannah, as well as my friends Tanya and Maya, all went with me to the Halloween Dance. I don't know which was more fun, actually going to the dance together or just getting ready for it!

 To the right we have a bunch of us girls at Christmastime! In addition to the Secret Santa I did for my floor-mates, we had another one between me and some of my friends. I had Sheila for my Secret Santa!

Shawn and I have a running joke of leaving notes on each other's doors. He likes to fill up my entire dry-erase board with his tiny handwriting so that it takes absolutely forever for me to read! One day, Tanya and Maya decided to leave this surprise message for him. I love coming back to my room at the end of the day to find notes from my friends!  

Liz (left) and Sarah enjoyed an IHOP breakfast at Umall!

Tanya and I decided to occupy the laundry room one day during finals week to study while waiting for our clothes. We ended up hanging out there for hours!

So, that was my first semester in only a handful of pictures. There were so many other moments, like birthdays, campus events, club activities, and of course my MOVE trip, which I will discuss in another post soon! Have a lovely night everyone :)

Peace,

Ren

PS- You can read more about me on (can you guess?) my About Me page, just click on those words to see it! Remember, if you have any questions just contact me via email (lkopchik@mail.smcvt.edu) or Twitter (@LaurenKopchik)!