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Christmas With Family and Friends!

Hi everyone!

I am sorry I have not posted in a while; I have spent the past few weeks celebrating Christmas with family and friends! I enjoyed being home for my family’s holiday traditions!

After Mass on Christmas Eve, my family went over a family friend’s house for dinner- a tradition we’ve had since I was little. We had ribs, pizza, salad and cookies, all of which were delicious!! At home, everyone in my family opened one of their presents, and my siblings and I received new pajamas, like we have every year since I was in elementary school.

Our Christmas 2017 pajamas!!

The next morning, my family opened the presents we gave each other, and had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. My grandmother, aunt, and godfather came over later for Christmas dinner. My family always orders Chinese food on Christmas, so we ate and then exchanged more gifts.

A picture I took in front of the tree after Christmas dinner!!

I hung out with some friends the next day to exchange gifts for our Secret Santa. It was great to hang out with them; my friend Caroline got my Bath and Body Works products, and my friend Brittany enjoyed the gift I picked out for her. Later that night, I went over another friend’s house and got to see friends from my high school drama club!!

My family’s decorated Christmas tree!! My family saved some ornaments so that I could help decorate the tree once I got home from college!!

Overall, I had an amazing Christmas!! I feel so grateful that I was able to celebrate at home with loved ones! Christmas made it feel like I had never left for school, since we still kept all of my favorite traditions!!

Thanks for reading!!

Rebecca McSweeney
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Finals and My Last Few Weeks on Campus

Hi everyone!

I cannot believe my first semester of college is over!! I finished my final exams yesterday, so I am officially on break for the semester!! Even though finals were stressful, I still enjoyed the past few weeks on campus!!

A photo I took when it snowed last week!

Last week was finals week at Holy Cross, which was stressful since students had a lot of work to do before they could go home and enjoy their break. I had exams for Chemistry, Biology and Psychology, so I tried to balance my study time for each. My Chemistry and Biology professors also had review sessions, where students could come and ask questions, so I also took advantage of those.

Other than studying for finals (which I think went well), I spent time attending events like the Christmas Tree Lighting and the Festival of Lessons and Carols. At both of these events, I got to hear Christmas songs and hymns performed by the different music ensembles at Holy Cross. Everyone did an amazing job; I now look forward to attending these events next year!

The Nativity scene on campus!

The performances for the Directing class’ one-act plays were during my last weekend on campus, and both of the pieces I was in went really well! Four of the one-acts were performed each day, and I thought all of them were amazing. I also got to support some of my friends, who were acting in or directing other pieces.

The program for the One-Act Festival!

My first semester at Holy Cross was amazing! While I am excited to relax over winter break, I am looking forward to the rest of my Holy Cross career!

Thanks for reading!

Rebecca McSweeney
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Thanksgiving Break and School Since Then

Hi everyone!
I’m sorry I have not blogged recently; the past few weeks have been incredibly busy. I cannot believe my first semester is almost over! Here is just a quick update on 3 parts of my life in the past few weeks as I begin preparing for final exams/papers/projects:

  • Going home for Thanksgiving: Having a few days off for Thanksgiving was really nice; I was happy to spend time with my family and eat some delicious food! I also got together with some of my friends for a “Friendsgiving”, where we all made a dish and had dinner together!! It was a lot of fun to hang out with them, as I haven’t been able to see them often since moving to Holy Cross!!
A photo from “Friendsgiving”!!
  • Major assignments: I have spent a lot of time studying/ working on schoolwork, as I have had a paper or exam for pretty much every class. I have papers due in Psychology and my Biology lab next week, and I handed in a paper for my Montserrat class today. I’m definitely going to be working hard until the end of the semester!
The painting “Musicalité des Nymphéas, Les Deux Saules” by Gabrielle Thierry, which I am writing my final Psychology paper on!
  • One-act play rehearsals: As I mentioned in my last post, I am in two one act plays directed by Holy Cross students! “Pullman Car Hiawatha” by Thornton Wilder is directed by my friend Emily, and “The People” by Susan Glaspell is directed by my friend Ros. Both of the directors- and many of my fellow cast members- were involved in the production of Fuenteovejuna, and it has been so fun to continue working with them!

Thanks for reading!
Rebecca McSweeney