April 23rd, 2009

So, you’ve visited and taken a tour of Chestnut Hill College. Congratulations! 

However, I have some bad news: You were gypped. Your tour guide, however thorough they may have been (it may have even been me!), deprived you of a big, big part of campus: SugarLoaf Hill.
Don’t be too upset; they didn’t do it because you smelled and they wanted to get rid of you faster. They did it because, well, it’s not quite on campus. It’s about half a mile up the street, accessible by CHC shuttle or old-fashioned walking.
Why should you care? Well, it doubles the size of CHC’s kingdom, bringing us to a whopping 75 acres (hence 75 Acres of Awesome), and is arguably the neighborhood’s best-kept secret.

Since you missed the tour, I’ll give you a rundown of what makes SugarLoaf so awesome. 

You can live in a former hotel.
This year, 60 students were the first inhabitants of the Lodge, SugarLoaf’s residence hall. Well, sort of. The now-dorm rooms are former hotel rooms, renovated to accommodate students. This means huge rooms, private bathrooms, and awesome views. You can live there beginning sophomore year! 

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Tagged As: campus tour, Sugarloaf
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March 5th, 2009

As a college student, at some point in time you’ll have to make a decision about where you are going to live. This choice, for non-commuters, essentially comes down to whether to live on-campus or off-campus. Both have varying pros and cons, and while I have never lived off-campus I have had enough friends make that choice to have a good idea of what it entails. So I’m going to break down each of these options, then talk about a wonderful middle ground here at CHC: Sugarloaf
On Campus: Pros
 Close to classes, great for waking up last minute for that 9:30 class
 Most of the people you know and spend time with are a hallway or dorm away
 Less time going back and forth to class and events, or practices for athletes
On Campus: Cons
 For the future chefs among us, cafeteria food and Raman noodles may not be your thing
 Free spirited people and non-conformists may have an issue following campus rules and the expectations that are a part of community living
 Having those people you know and spend time with right there all the time isn’t always a great thing
Off Campus: Pros
 Freedom that is only curtailed by local, state, and federal law
 You get to cook your own meals
 More flexibility in decoration and room design
Off Campus: Cons
 Cost, both at the start to furnish the apartment and the recurring costs of rent, groceries, and utilities
 Added time for commuting to and from classes and events
 You have to cook your own meals

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Tagged As: commuter, dorm, off campus, residence, Sugarloaf
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February 24th, 2009

Andréa recently posted a blog of her dorm rooms throughout her years at Chestnut Hill. I strongly agree with her statement about visiting the schools you’re considering and checking out their residence halls. I know I’m in my room a lot (doing homework, hanging out with friends, watching movies, listening to music, or just relaxing on my bed with a book or letter-writing materials) so it’s important to me that I live in a comfortable and cozy place.

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Tagged As: Dorms, Fontbonne, Housing, photos, Sugarloaf
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February 17th, 2009

Fun fact.  An 8th Grader came up with my blog title.

Anyways, last week I celebrated having survived 20 years of life and got the best birthday present ever. It was snowing when I woke up and continued to snow all throughout the day, accumulating to about six inches by the end of the night. I went to all of my classes but my religion teacher let us out at about 5PM instead of 7 so people could get home safely before the roads got too messy.

Not having any special birthday plans since I had two Spanish exams the next day, I just stayed in my room being a good student and studying the evening away…..until my roommate ran in excitedly at 10PM and convinced me to venture outside into the snow with her. I made a snow angel, attempted to make a snowman (but quit because I don’t really know how to go about doing that), and sled down the hill behind the dorm a few times before kicking back into student-mode and going inside. After leaving a trail of wet clothes and shoes and socks on the floor of my room, I retreated under my covers to look over my notes once more before turning in for the night and resting up.

You ever have those dreams where everything is so realistic that you think it all really happened? That night I dreamt that my roommate woke me up to tell me all classes for the day had been canceled and we could sleep in. When I woke up though, she was still asleep and I was distraught.…until I checked my email and saw for myself that all classes really had been canceled!! Brittany woke up and I told her, but she didn’t believe me and had to check the school website herself. We then proceeded to giggle and squeal with excitement before retreating back to our respective beds to get a few more hours of sleep.

Great birthday present right? Sledding, snow day, sleeping in, (alliteration, what?) two tests postponed, and I went to the Philly Car Show that evening after a relaxing day at Sugarloaf. I have very high expectations for my next birthday!

Tagged As: Philly Auto Show, Sledding, Snow, Sugarloaf
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February 10th, 2009

 

Happy New Year, from DisneyWorld!! Check out Cinderella’s Castle behind me. ^ 

Alright, so I’m late…but that’s where I was to bring in the new year and I can say that it was a blast.  Literally.  I mean, these people don’t know the meaning of too many fireworks.  During the countdown, the numbers were shot up into the sky with fireworks and when zero hit, I could look up in any direction, rotating in a complete circle and see the colorful sparks and designs across the sky everwhere.  Pretty neat stuff!

Being away from CHC is always a drab…so of course I had to do something spectacular like go to DisneyWorld with my family to make up for my loss.  I don’t know how I’m going to top Disney when Spring Break rolls around and I have to find something to do in Maryland to keep myself occupied.  I suppose I have lots to do in Washington DC and all, but I really can’t explain why I’m so attached to where I am right now.  I don’t mean CHC itself, or even the town up the hill…but just my room here.  I don’t know if anyone else is so sentimental about their dorm rooms but I’m completely at peace here on the Lovely Loaf.  (I just made that up…that’s why it sounds so lame!)  Maybe it’s because my roomie and I just rearranged all of our things and I’m still loving the new setup, but even before that I could sit in here and just relax for hours.  Or spy on people walking across the bridge into the building.  Or put on my naptime playlist on my iTunes for background music and read one of the books I just got at Borders.  Or prop my door open and expect someone to come knockin’ just to see what’s up.  I really do love this atmosphere.  It’s almost hard to say whether I’d choose Disney’s crowded, jam-packed, expensive, loud, hot, crazy environment…or the serenity and comfort of my awesome room here at Sugarloaf.

…………….Okay, being real…Disney has rollercoasters.  But it’s a really really really close call!

Click onward to see some pictures from our trip that I stole from my sister’s camera!

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Tagged As: Borders, Christmas Break, Disneyworld, Dorm room, Orlando, Sugarloaf
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