10/17-10/23: Laughter

To finish up the 4 day weekend, I decided to go home for the night on Monday when I got back from Massachusetts. I longed for a Dairy Center breakfast with my grandparents in my hometown. I spent the day on Tuesday admiring the view from my house and the Vermont foliage before heading back to school that night to watch my roommate play in their home Volleyball game. My week was filled with laughter with my friends as we talked about what we did over the long weekend and prepared for the weekend to come.

This pictures doesn't do Vermont justice, but I think it shows it's beauty the best it can in a picture. Here's the view from my house!

I couldn't resist. I had to show another. #ILoVermont

My Uncle works at Ben and Jerry's and is allowed to take home 3 pints a day! Tbh I think that's the only reason my roommates keep me around. (jk, I like to think they like me for more than just the ice cream)

My suite mates and I try to be the best roomies possible and cheer on Sarah at all of her home games!

Campus has started to get very cold. As much as I love Vermont, I wish it didn't get so cold here. I can't believe it's only half way through October and I've already brought out my Bean Boots (which are a must up here in Vermont).

And of course, I couldn't leave my blog off without a picture of me with  at least one dog. Here's my best friend from home's dogs that I saw this week! (Kaba and Aquella)

I hope you seeing a little bit about my week!
Catch me on social media for more pictures of dogs or sarcastic tweets.

Email: njackson@mail.smcvt.edu
Snapchat: natalierj
Instagram: @natjackski
Twitter: @natjackski

10/10-10/16: Home

After a stressful week of studying and midterms, it felt great to finally have a four day weekend. I spent the week longing to be anywhere but studying, and looking forward to my trip down to Massachusetts to visit my boyfriend's family. After leaving his house, I realized how much I missed my own family and decided to go home for a night before classes started up again. I guess it isn't all that bad living only an hour away from campus.

Here's a couple snapshots of what I did throughout the week leading up to the October break!

I'm thankful for my suite mate, Sarah,  and our random trips to Al's French Fries for fries and chocolate milkshakes.

Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts, and also is one of the reasons I gained the Freshmen 15 last year. Thank you Alliot for always having it on hand.

A bunch of my friends and I went to the Volleyball game against Southern New Hampshire University to watch our friends kill it in the game! We printed out embarrassing pictures of Sarah to cheer her on.

I carpooled to Groveland, MA to meet my boyfriend's family (and dog, Oliver) for the first time!

And of course, it wouldn't be a Day in the Life of Natalie Jackson without a picture of myself and a dog. Featured here is the puppy that my boyfriend's friend just got. Stella is absolutely adorable!

I hope you all enjoyed seeing how my week went! If you're interested in seeing it day-by-day check me out on social media. Feel free to email me with any questions you have as well!

Email: njackson@mail.smcvt.edu

Snapchat: natalierj

Instagram: @natjackski

Twitter: @natjackski

10/3-10/9: Love

Looking back on my week, I realize how fortunate I am to be surrounded by such a fun, loving community. My week started off great with tons of homemade goodies from my roommates' parents. Since I live in a suite with three roommates that all have the best parents around, we tend to indulge on maybe too many sweets (Jk, there's no such thing as too many sweets). Now I'd show you a picture of the banana bread, chocolate covered pretzels, apple caramel dessert, chocolate chip cookie bars, freshly picked apples, cinnamon buns, and homemade salsa, but unfortunately (and I'm super embarrassed to say this), everything was gone within two days... Is the sophomore 15 a thing? 'Cause if it isn't, it will be after I'm done the school year. Note to self: continue to go to all of my team's intramural soccer games to help work off the sweets.

Matt Doyle '19 published some great pictures from the Cross Country race hosted by St. Mikes. Although I'm not an athlete, I still made the pictures because I'm quite the enthusiastic fan (I try to be the biggest fan for my roommates. One plays volleyball and one runs cross country). You can check out all of his great photos here, but for now, enjoy this one of SMC's biggest fan, aka, myself.

This week a friend of mine from my freshmen seminar class last year sent me this snapchat. He spotted Rob (the greatest stir fry maker Sedexo ever did hire in Alliot). Rob now works at Union Jack's on Shelburne Rd. if anybody is interested in going to visit him!

Later in the week I had the privilege of welcoming perspective students at St. Mike's October open house. Mike the Knight made a guest appearance, and looks absolutely stunning if I do say so myself.

Even though I only live an hour away from home, I don't go home at all. I believe it's hard for people to make friends at school if they go home too much, so I rarely do. I'm blessed to have a Mom that takes such great pictures of my home just to send to my siblings and I so that we never forget where we came from. Look at this exceptionally beautiful picture she sent my way.

Fall in Enosburg Falls, Vermont is always the most beautiful.

In light of the fall season, a couple of friends of mine from the volleyball team and myself decided to explore the area. Like usual, we took a trip downtown to Church Street. Church Street is one of my favorite places because I am guaranteed to see dogs and eat kettle corn. This week was especially better than usual on Church Street because I saw a corgi, my absolute favorite dog there is!

Natalie's favorite foods: kettle corn, Ben & Jerry's milk and cookies ice cream, Mom's taco salad, chicken parm, and cheesecake

This perfect dog's name is Lucy!

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my week! To stay tuned throughout the week, feel free to follow me on social media:
Email: njackson@mail.smcvt.edu
Snapchat: natalierj
Instagram: @natjackski
Twitter: @natjackski

Back-to-School Festivities

With the excitement of the first month back at school, I have been so busy with getting back into my school routine and reconnecting with friends. Here are some snapshots of how great the first month back went!

Last year my roommate (and now best friend) and I were randomly selected to live together. Our friendship began in Joyce 411. We became so obsessed with each other that we decided to live together again with two of our other friends in Quad Commons! This picture is from move in day!

Since I came from a small town, home means so much to me. My favorite way to bring my hometown to my new home is through pictures, hence why I have so many in my room.

After the first week of classes, some of my friends from the volleyball team and myself went hiking at Jay Peak. On the way back to school, we stopped at my house for my Mom's delicious taco salad and apple crisp. To give them a true taste of a Vermonter's life I took them out for a ride on my family's side-by-side Ranger.

This month I received an award for my excellence in Calculus 1 last year! Hard work really does pay off!

I could not be happier living with such a great group of friends. As we are all members of the honor's program, we decided to live in honor's housing in Quad Commons because we had such a great experience in the honor's housing last year where we all met! Joyce 4 South moves to Quad Commons 2!

Even though I only live an hour away from campus, I don't go home often and was very excited when my parents came to visit me for parent's weekend. My parents treated my friends and I to dinner and a cruise on Lake Champlain for the night!

Living in college is a struggle sometimes because of the lack of dogs on campus. As I am clearly a dog activist, I couldn't help but share at least one picture of a rare dog spotting in my blog. 

This month I went Sea Kayaking on Lake Champlain with the Adventure Sports Program! This was my first time participating in one of their adventures but I can guarantee I will definitely be doing another. It was so much fun!

I hope you all enjoyed seeing how my first month back went! To keep updated on my adventures at St. Mike's feel free to follow me on my other social media accounts!

You can find me at:
Email: njackson@mail.smcvt.edu
Snapchat: natalierj
Instagram: @natjackski
Twitter: @natjackski