Wrapping it up.

In less than a week, I will officially be an alumna of Mount St. Mary's University.

How?!

How did four years go so fast? How does it feel like I missed most of it? How am I old enough to be a college graduate (basically)? How?

It's all bittersweet, but when I look back at the last three years, I can see the growth and transformation in myself. This next week is going to be very emotional and nostalgic, and so I'd like to make you feel my sadness ('cause I'm the worst.)

 

my desk in my freshman dorm

taking pictures with my Sociology text-
book in the library. Freshmen tho.

Molly & Emily decorating our dorm for Christmas

My roommates and I went all out in decorating our
door for Christmas. 

Our Fresham RA did St. Nicholas day for us :)

Molly, Emily, and I all dolled up for the Christmas dance.

For our last day in Florida for SEEK 2013, we went to
Magic Kingdom :)

We all gathered in the lounge to watch Justin
Timberlake's return to SNL!

Rosalyn and I went to the NBC Store during a
school-sponsored trip to New York. We face-
swapped with Liz Lemon and Jack Doneghy
from "30 Rock". Legendary.

Emily, Molly & I at the FOCUS St. Patrick's Day Party.

Our first GlowCrazy!

My family sent me flowers for my 20th birthday,
which was also the day classes began.

on St. Therese's feast day, Campus
Ministry hands out roses around campus.

Halloween 2013 with my friend Gianna.

Christmas Dance with Gianna.

Night sledding before the end of the fall semester

For our second New York trip, Rosalyn and I saw
"The Bridges of Madison County" on Broadway!

Second GlowCrazy!

Junior Ring Dance with my roommates
from Freshman year. 

The entire group of retreatants and leaders for Kairos. Love them
all to infinity and beyond.

The Kairos XXXVIII leaders

I was sad for some reason, and Tea demanded I smile and take a
picture with her. So grateful for her friendship.

March for Life 2015.

My friend Mike and I on Junior Retreat.

Stephanie's Baptism!

Class Clash

Steph and I went to High Rock before she graduated.

FOCUS hosts an "End of the Year
Hoedown" every year

My best friend Steph and I a few days before she graduated.

The day before graduation, Tea, Steph, and I all went to Big Slide
for the first time.

The night before Steph graduated, we all hung
out in her room and it was just a great night.

These are snapshots of my journey of my first three years of college. I couldn't be more grateful for the years I've spent at the Mount, the memories and friends I've made, and the love, faith, and hope I've found.

I'll be doing a separate wrap up of senior year at the end of the week ... stay tuned!!!

Patron Saint of the Fall 2015 Semester

St. Jude, pray for us!

So, I realized, four weeks into the school year, that I never chose a patron for the fall semester. For the past two semesters (Fall 2014 & Spring 2015), I've used Jennifer Fulweiler's Random Saint Generator to find a saint to intercede for me during the school semester. 

This semester, God gave me St. Jude. Also known as the patron saint of impossible causes. God's a funny one, isn't He?

Here's a brief biography about this amazing saint:

St. Jude, known as Thaddeus, was a brother of St. James the Less, a relative of Jesus, and one of His 12 Apostles 

He preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopot.amia, and Lybia. 

He returned to Jerusalem in 62 AD, and assisted at the election of his brother, St. Simeon, as Bishop of Jerusalem. 

He is an author of an epistle to the Churches of the East, particularly the Jewish converts, directed against the heresies of the Simonians, Nicolaites, and Gnostics. He is said to have suffered martyrdom in Armenia. The final conversion of the Armenian nation to Christianity did not take place until the third century. 

At the Last Supper, Jude asked Jesus why He would not manifest Himself to the whole world after His resurrection. Not much else is known about his life. 

He is invoked in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stresses that the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances, just as their forefathers had done before them. He is the patron of desperate cases and his feast day is October 28th. 

To honor this beautiful man, I'll be praying to him daily, and reading his letter in the bible.

I took a quick look at it after he was chosen for me, and I was already blown away by how the first verse to catch my eye was exactly what I needed to hear, and actually what I talked about with my therapist yesterday:

"But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life" - Jude 1:20-21

St. Jude, pray for this hopeless case made new in Christ as I embark on my senior year.

Vote for The Mount's Emmit S. Burg in Catholic Mascotology 2014!

Here's the link

And here's a picture of our beloved Emmit:

Defending the Impractical Students

As of Thursday, I am officially halfway done with my college career. I can't even believe it. Freshman year went by so slow, but Sophomore year? I feel like I blinked, and then I was done.

I started off the fall semester  but finally taking the classes needed for my majors. I took Introduction to Literary Study I, and Introduction to Christian Theology. I also discovered that I'm good at philosophy, and really like it, to boot! Because I hate myself, I declared myself an English and Theology Major with a minor in Philosophy.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="279"] Katie before declaring her double major and minor.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="332"] Katie post-declaration of double major and minor.[/caption]

But really, I am so glad I took on that Philosophy minor. It goes beautifully with Theology and English, and I have learned so much because of the classes I've taken and the skills they have taught me. Even though Theology, English, & Philosophy are considered to be three of the most useless majors (rude), I am so passionate about all three and the good they can do in the world.

Really, is any major "practical"? It's incredibly rare for college students to find a job in their major right after graduation, and most majors require a Masters' degree to get anything done. You can't really do anything with a psychology or sociology degree unless you go to school for at least two more years.

There are going to be people who judge me for my decisions, but there are also so many people who support me, and even respect me for it. Something I have learned is that, often, my biggest judge is myself.  That's also the hardest judge to defend myself to. I can tell everyone why I've chosen my majors, "Because it's what I love", but when my inner judge comes out, no defense  is good enough to excuse my "crime" of impractical majors.

I find myself second guessing my English major almost daily, "Should I have gone with communications instead? What if no one wants to hire me simply because I'm an English major?" Maybe choosing communications would have been more practical, but it wouldn't have led me to the self-discovery and passion I've found as an English major.

In the long run, I hope that's what matter. When I'm sitting in a job interview, and my interviewer asks why I chose English as opposed to communications, maybe "because I loved it. Because I wanted to learn to analyze, and understand, and write about what I analyzed and understood. I wanted to see how the world influences art, and how art influences the world. I am learning that.

Would I love to have  a big house with a super stable job and a steady and heavy income? Well, duh. I am human. But I also know that things aren't going to make me happy. If depression has taught me anything, it is that you can get everything you want, and still feel worthless and unloved. Happiness is found in God.

I started this blog post out as "lessons I've learned after sophomore year" and it morphed into this... thing. Yeah, I'm not really sure what it is. But, I guess that's life, huh?

 

 

100 Happy Days: Day 2

The best study break? Watching the show you used to love when you were five :)

A prayer request

Dear friends,

 

I know I haven't blogged lately, but I'm trusting that you will respond to the prayer request I have for you. A newly hired professor at my school lost two of his young daughters (aged three and six) on Tuesday by the means of a car accident. Please keep the souls of Olivia and Emma in your prayers, as well as their parents, Sean and Becca, and their surviving sister, Vivian. 

If you have even five dollars to spare, I urge that you donate it to this fund which is raising money to help with medical expenses, funeral arrangements, and other support that the family will need. Not all scars are visible, and this family is going to need the help of God and His people on earth.

God bless, and if you have a prayer request for me to post, please let me know!