Lauren Della Villa

Finals Week

I can't believe that it is already time for the dreaded finals week to begin.  Today is officially the last day of classes, but my last day was Thursday...lucky me!  With these awful finals comes the beautiful weather, which can make it very hard to find time to study when all you want to do is lay in the sun.  The easiest thing for me is to find a quiet area on campus, bring a blanket, some snacks and drinks, your best tanning attire, and of course, your study materials.  I find that going by myself rather than friends allows me to get a lot of work done.  At night I usually hit up the library for some extra quiet hours to focus on my work, but during the day, who wants to be locked up in a library? No one.  It is tempting to lay out with friends, bring some music, and just hang out all day, but it pays off in the end when you find some "me" time to just accomplish some work.  Another place that I find to be relaxing to do some studying is along the canal.  On both sides of the canal there are benches and picnic tables set up for you to use.  I always end up getting a coffee at Starbucks and finding an empty table to study.  Also, I find it A LOT better (and I am pretty sure everyone would agree with me here) to study a few hours each day rather than cram the night before.  So instead of hanging out all day with friends, sleeping past noon, playing some ultimate frisbee in the nice warm weather, find some hours each day to do your work, then go out and play.  It will definitely help in the long run, and just keep telling yourself...last week of doing this then summer!!

Well, back to work I go...talk to ya later!

What a weekend!

    Last Thursday and Friday night, I actually didn't have a tonnn of work to do...I was shocked with this free time that I had!  Thursday evening, our friends who are exchange students from Italy (that attend both Nazareth College and RIT) came over.  They decided to make us a nice Italian home cooked meal.  Pasta, homemade sauce, sausage, the whole shibang.  It was a lot of fun since my other roommates and I are usually so busy with school that we don't really get to spend that much time with them.  The next day I had one class then headed home for my best friends birthday.  The weather out in Rochester was amazing that day, so that only means that back home is that much nicer.  Saturday morning I headed back out here to Naz for Springfest!!! Definitely lucked out with the weather since this entire weekend was beautiful.  Before I went to Springfest, I hit up the canal with my sister...ran for 2 hours...who does that?!  But it was so nice out, families everywhere, people jogging and riding bikes, we had to stay for a while.  We then went over to Springfest with some of our friends.  The night ended with the 90's Mixer!  Unlike the 80's Mixer that was a few weeks ago, we weren't quite sure what to wear for the 90's!  It ended up being a blast and spent a lot of time with friends that I haven't really had time to see over the past few weeks since I have been so busy with work and what not.  Finally, Sunday rolls around (still beautiful weather), so a bunch of my friends and I decided to take some homework down to the canal, grab a coffee across the street at Starbucks, and get to work.  It was such a relaxing weekend and I am still amazed that I didn't have a ton of work to do! So now we're headed into our LAST WEEK OF CLASSES! wooo-hooo!! Unfortunately, the nice weather decided to leave us here all alone in the rain. 

    This year has gone by so fast.  I am officially done with our clinical part of my major, and will officially be student teaching next fall...awesome!  Another bonus to this week that has made me pretty excited...my classes for this Friday and next Monday (since Monday is the official last day of classes) have all been cancelled!  Only 3 more days of classes then I'm a senior.

    Well, back to work and finishing up some last minute assignments so I can end this week early!  See yaaa!

The Elder Voice Project

Last semester, I decided to pick up a minor in Gerontology.  There are about six required classes that you need to take in order to receive the full credit.  I finished most of the classes that were required through my major, such as Anatomy and Physiology and a PI course.  This semester, I am taking Sociology of Aging and Developmental Psychology: Middle Age and Aging for the minor.  In my psychology class, we were assigned The Elder Voice Project.  The project is meant for you to work in groups (or alone, however groups are recommended), and video-tape people above the age of 65 and under the age of 21.  The final project is a presentation and a 15-minute PowerPoint.

Over reading weekend, I decided to go home and video-tape my grandparents, while my partner video-taped some friends.  The questions range from asking about life lessons, how older adults view younger adults (as well as younger adults viewing older adults), what the person thinks has been their greatest accomplishment in life, to how they feel about the economy and politics.  Each group then goes in to the video editing lab in the library's media center to edit the film.  There is no set syllabus to follow with the movies; the message of the video is left up to the groups as to however they would like to present their material.

Even though I have just taken a few courses so far in this minor, I thoroughly enjoy the classes and the course material.  When I first came here as a Freshman, I always thought that I would become a Speech-Language Pathologist in a school setting.  In my Pre-Clinic class, we are required to observe a certain amount of hours before we can begin the Clinic portion of our Undergraduate classes.  One of my observations was done at a Rehabilitation Center and Hospital back home.  As much as I enjoyed observing and working with the children at the elementary schools that I had observed, I absolutely loved the day I spent in the Hospital.  After my experiences observing, I was undecided as to where I wanted to work after school.  I am still doing my teaching-certification, just in case I do decide that is where I want to be, however I thought that minoring in Gerontology would give me some more knowledge about that age group and hopefully help make my decision easier.  Through The Elder Voice Project, I have been able to learn more about how young adults and older adults feel about aging and some of their biggest fears.  I strongly suggest that anyone who would like to work with older adults should minor in Gerontology.  It is a great experience, the classes are exciting and interesting, and there are many events both on and off campus that allow the students to get more involved with this age group.

Siblings Weekend

So even though I went home this past weekend to visit my family, they're coming out here to see me again!  They are coming out Saturday morning, bummer though-I'm taking a practice GRE that morning from 10-1...so I'm missing the first few hours they are here.  So after the test, hopefully it is nice out so we can walk the canal and stop in all of the shops.  Nazareth also has a ton of things that are going on all over campus.  All throughout the day they play movies, have a build-a-bear station, popcorn and sno-cone machines (yum!), sumo wrestling, and tons of other really cool things. 

So since I have to take the GRE's that morning, it means that I will be spending most of my Friday night doing homeworkkk.  Awesome.  Good thing though-free food from the parents!  Along with my Mom, Dad, and younger brother, my Chochi (Aunt in Polish), Uncle, and two younger cousins are coming out, which is awesome because I can't wait to see them!

Last night, just dropped $130 for the Speech Convention that is being held near my hometown in Saratoga Springs in the beginning of May.  However, all of the Juniors that are going to convention are getting funded by the college.  We all had to write letters requesting funding and we were all approved!  So even though it's a huge chunk of money taken out for now, I'm getting it back later!  I'm also really excited about the convention.  So much fun learning after school is out! haha...but it's ok since it's what I love.

Alright, back to work, talk to ya later : )