My Typical Day: Spring 2017 Edition

What does a typical day for Natalie Jackson, a sophomore, MJD major look like????

8:30am: Rise & Shine!
Today I woke up at 8:30 so that I had enough time to wake up, get dressed and get ready for my day before I headed over to Alliot for breakfast. What's my go-to breakfast option? Most days I get plain oatmeal with brown sugar and a chopped up banana. Depending on what kind of tater tots there are, you can always catch those on the side of my plate too.

9:45am-12:05pm: "I go to college to get more knowledge."
This semester, I have two classes each day. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I have Photojournalism in a Digital Age and Fourth Semester Spanish. On Tuesday and Thursday I have Social Media and Managerial Accounting.


12:05pm: "I wanna see you workout" -J. Cole
Directly after my classes are finished, I head back to my room to change and then I go to gym. Depending on the day I'll run outside, or just head over to the gym to go on the treadmill and/or lift weights. If I'm feeling very enthusiastic, I will run six miles (this rarely happens), but most of the time I stick to a solid three miles.

1:20pm: My favorite exercise is a cross between a lunge and a crunch. I call it Lunch.
As soon as I'm done working out, I take my sweaty self over to Alliot with hopes of smoothies and zucchini fries for my second meal of the day. I meet one of roommates and we normally sit in the dining hall people watching for a while.

2:15pm: The part of the day that we all dread the most.... homework, staring out the window, and crossing things off of my to-do list.
From 2:15 until dinner time, I sit at my desk, slowly, reluctantly, doing my homework. Although I really don't like doing homework, I find it better to do it during the day and get it over with, so that I can do whatever I want to do with my free time after dinner. Most recently I have also been working on a couple of different applications. As an MJD major, it is required to study abroad, so I have been working on the Fall 2017 application. I am also looking for a summer internship, so I've been busy applying to many jobs too!

5:30pm: Hands down my favorite part of every day.
I LOVE DINNER. Not because of the food, but because of the time I spend with my friends. All 11 of us squeeze around a circle table in Alliot and talk about our days. Always so eager to share the hilarious things that happened to us throughout the day, or discuss our plans for the evening or weekends, our table is always filled with chatter and laughter. I live for dinner time. To me, dinner time is the moment I look around and realize how thankful I am to have such a great group of friends like the ones I have.

6:45pm: Netflix and Chill? Intramural Soccer?
After dinner I had back to my humble abode with my roommates. Normally we spend time talking, or I catch up on some Netflix while they finish up their homework. On occasion I will have an intramural game or a meeting for something I'm involved in (extended service trip, founder's society, social ambassadors, group projects, etc.).

8:00pm: Cash us watching the Bachelor, howbow dat.
By 8pm everybody is ready to watch tv. Our personal favorite these days is The Bachelor. My friends and I (boys included) gather around our common room in Quad Commons to eat popcorn and live off of the drama Corrine and Nick supply.

11:00pm: Lights out!
I try to be in bed by 11 every night. I really rely on beauty sleep and most of the time I get sick if I don't get enough of it. Some nights I will write a list of the things I need to do for the next day and have it set out on my desk to accomplish.


I hope you enjoyed hearing about my average day as a college student! Feel free to email me with questions or check out my social media sites to see the highlights!

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

Back at It

We're finally back at school! Although a month vacation from the stress of school work was much needed, I am very happy to be back at school with my roommates and friends!
One struggle for me when I go home is not having a daily routine, so I'm very glad to be back to the schedule of waking up, going to class, doing homework, working out, dinner, and free time (aka Netflix and chill).

Over break I was so happy to see all of my family and friends from home, including all of my siblings who came home for the holidays. One of my sisters flew from California, one from North Carolina, and my brother came up from school in Rhode Island.



What were the highlights of my winter break?

My siblings and I were all able to be together for the first time since our cousin's wedding in July!

My Dad "rented" a dog for my siblings and I to love over the holidays since we're all avid dog lovers and our own passed away 2 years ago. Unfortunately, Lola (an 11 month old Leonburger) had to go back after 3 days because my brother was allergic to her. :(

My friends from high school and I were able to meet up!

Another one of my cousin's go married and had their wedding and reception in Charlotte, Vermont!

My mom, dad, grandma, and I went to Aruba for a week! I actually missed the first day of classes back because I was traveling (Oops!).

I got to snorkel as my birthday gift from my Grandma! (My birthday is coming up this Sunday, January 22nd! Eeeep!)

And I was able to watch the sunset in Aruba :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe break! Now let's get back in the school grind and take the chaos (and cold weather) with a smile! :)

Feel free to follow me on social media for more updates!

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

The Final Stretch

These past few weeks from Thanksgiving break to Winter break are always the most stressful for college students. I worked on two final projects, one group project, one group essay, one individual essay, and I still have two finals to go!
Here are just a few of the keepsakes from the moments that have helped me take my mind off of homework and finals for a little bit (in order to keep myself sane).

My friend's dog, Bubba, came to visit and clearly I've never been happier. Dogs are the best way to ease your mind. Bubba is a 120 pound Bernese Mountain Dog!

My friend Molly absolutely crushed the Ugly Christmas Sweater competition with her Darth Vader sweater and matching mug!

I took a trip downtown to buy some Christmas presents and study at a local coffee shop, Uncommon Grounds. Of course when I'm in the neighborhood I always indulge in a cupcake from My Little Cupcake. This one is flavored Cinnamon Toast Crunch!

Finals week definitely stresses me out, but I'm thankful for these great things that keep me plugging away. Now, because this song has been stuck in my mind for literally a week, here's a gif of it accurately representing how I feel during my study sessions.

Keep plugging away and feel free to follow me on social media or email me with any questions you have!

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

11/21-11/27: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Obviously, I love to indulge on delicious foods all day long, but I'm also so happy to be around friends and family for a week. This Thanksgiving break my friend from school, Liam, stayed at my house with my family. Since he's from Minnesota it isn't always easy to go home over short breaks. Luckily (or maybe unluckily since my town is boring with not much to do) we were able to host him for the holiday.
This Thanksgiving I am thankful for a lot of things.
1. My brother got a job for after he graduates from college in May.
2. My family is all healthy.
3. I was able to see my cousins dogs.
4. My other cousin's kid has begun to walk. He's growing up so fast!
5. My mom made me TONS of delicious food while I was home.
6. I was able to savor a great breakfast from my favorite restaurant, The Dairy Center.
7. Everyone had safe and happy trips to and from home on the holidays.

As part of Random Acts of Kindness at SMC, my friends and I wrote what we're thankful for. I'm thankful for my mom's taco salad and my philosophy tutor, Mike Ruble.

One of my guilty pleasures? My Little Cupcake. Pictured here is me stuffing my face with their apple cider donut flavor!

I love seeing my friends from high school when I go home for break. Here's my friend Sarah and I!

Here's Liam and I still smiling after a week spent together playing card games with my family, watching movies, eating turkey, and doing a 1000 piece puzzle!

For your weekly dog picture, here is me with my roommate's dog, Jack! Jackypoo is a great dog and I'm so jealous she got to spend her break with him in Carmel, NY.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and time off of work! To stay tuned on my life or to have your questions answered, feel free to message me and follow me on social media!
Email: njackson@mail.smcvt.edu
Snapchat: natalierj
Instagram: @natjackski
Twitter: @natjackski

11/7-11/13: Poverty

This week's theme is poverty. I had two nights of service trip orientation to prepare all the students going on extended service trips. I was accepted to go on a service trip to Kentucky over spring break! The first night of orientation was about poverty. A professor at the school who came from Iran talked to us about his childhood and how he came from nothing and worked his way up to where he is now, here. The next night we discussed the differences in cultures with a professor in the anthropology department. After attending both nights, I have realized how grateful and thankful I am for the way I was raised and the resources I had growing up.

Here are some snapchats from the rest of my week!

My roommate Kristen and I took a stroll down Church Street in Burlington and went on a nice dinner date to American Flatbread!

My team, Volleyciraptors, for the Volleyball for Veterans fundraiser! We had so much fun even though we lost all three of our games!

As a Vermonter, it is a necessity to bring Vermont Maple Syrup to brunch every weekend! Nothing is better than Vermont's gold.

On Saturday I was a lunch host for the first time at our second Sample St. Mike's fall open house! I love talking to families about St. Mike's because I can go on and on talking about this school! :)

Volleyball season is over. I'm proud of the team and happy for my amazing roommate on being named one of the captains for next year! Even though they had some tough losses, it was a great season to watch!

The weather has been so nice lately that my friends and I were able to do our homework outside! I'm loving the 62 degree weather in November. Here's my gorgeous friend, Kara!

Unfortunately, I didn't see a dog this week, but here is an older picture of my childhood dog! My family had Shelby for 11 years before we had to put her down my senior year of high school. She was the best dog ever! We aren't certain what kind of dog she was, but we think she was a mix of a golden retriever and a black lab.

For more stories and to see what I'm up to on a daily basis, feel free to contact me or follow me on social media!

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

10/31-11/6: FOIA and Sunshine Act

This week I worked really hard on a project for my Media Law and Ethics in a Digital Age class. In the class we had been learning about the Freedom of Information Act and the Sunshine Act. There were four components to our research project. We were assigned a local town and we had to go to the town clerk's office to request information on a home sale. We had to look up information on a sex offender in the town. We had to go to an open meeting that falls under the Sunshine Act in our assigned town, and we had to go to the courthouse and sit in on an arraignment. After finishing all of these tasks, we had to right a reflection paper and discuss each component too. This week, I focused on half of the project. I went to a natural resource committee meeting and sat in on a court arraignment.
This week I also had a week of Spanish exams. As a Spanish minor, I am currently taking Third Semester Spanish. I have this class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This week we had a written exam on Monday, an in class essay question on Wednesday, and an oral exam on Friday.
After a long week of homework, studying, and exams, I was very relieved when the weekend came! Both my roommate and I had a friend from home coming to visit and another one of my roommates had her golden retriever for a night!

Here are a couple of snapshots from my week!

It felt so good to see my best friend, Taylor! 2.5 months was too long apart!

My roommate, Kristen, and I LOVE cheesecake and are thankful Alliot supplies it so often!

And of course, I can't close out my blog without a picture of me with a dog (I realize I forgot last weekend, but I was a Dalmatian for Halloween so I think that's good enough). This is my roommate Jade's dog, Paisley.

Feel free to email me with any questions you have, or follow me on social media to catch instant updates on my hectic life!

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

10/24-10/30: Halloween

The week leading up to Halloween was filled with excitement in my suite! My roommates and I all got Halloween care packages from our families and we decorated the suite with Halloween lights, signs, and even pumpkins! One of my roommates, Jade, lives in the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont (about an hour and a half away) and her parents brought us each a pumpkin with our name engraved into it!

To start off the week, I took a picture for the school's HerCampus club that was promoting self-love last week in Alliot. Why am I beautiful? I'm beautiful because I love taco salad!!

My friends, Aaron and Sam, took the easy route and decided to dress up as Drake and Josh for Halloween. They went around saying, "Hug me brotha!"

My friend Jake (also the president for the Class of 2019) and I went as a firefighter and a dalmation. I tried my hardest too look more like a dalmation than a cow while still being on a college budget.

Here's the cute pumpkin Jade's parents made me! They told us that if you scrape the name into the pumpkin when it is little, then the name will grow as the pumpkin does!

That's all for my Halloween week, but I hope everyone had a great and safe time celebrating (without any clowns)! My other favorite costumes I saw on campus throughout the weekend were the cast of Stranger Things, a group of bananas, and Judge Judy!

Feel free to email me with any questions you have, or follow me on social media to catch instant updates!
Email: njackson@mail.smcvt.edu
Snapchat: natalierj
Instagram: @natjackski
Twitter: @natjackski