As I get back and settle into my room here, I find myself preparing for these last two weeks; UB begins final exams soon, classes are wrapping up, projects are being turned in, in my case lots of tests. Amid the exams though, there’s quite a bit of  fun to be had. Since the holiday season is warming up, there are tons of events in the city, the mall is always brimming and fun to go to, and on campus there are tons of end-of campus events. Banquets are always a great way to end the semester, and this Friday I’ll be part of hosting our chapters National Residence Hall Honorary Induction Banquet. It’ll be a blast!

It’s always busy, always fun, and always happens faster than a whirlwind! Looking forward to it though!

So, the way the academic calendar looks this semester, April is the last big month of classes before life gets crazy with exams and heading home. There’s still quite a bit to do; but with end of the semester midterms, and things of that nature. Having said that, it’s a very strange time of year, clubs start to wrap up and start preforming end of the year programs, holding banquets and things of that nature. People are very frantic, looking for jobs, figuring out their summer plans, but overall everyone is usually in great spirits. The summer is on the way, and once everything is all said and done, it’s another good year to be had!

The nice thing about having Thursdays off is it gives a mid-week recuperation, right before the weekend. I get the opportunity to do some work, relax and catch up on real life things. I’ve found that having this day off has allowed me to handle things such as groceries, off-campus errands and do other forms of crisis control. It’s been a very beneficial all in all.

Today, I decided to take the day to rest, vegetate and relax. It was a healthy day, in light of completing some tests this week. I have this weekend to look forward to! It’ll be quite enjoyable I think.

So, our Student Association is a fairly big entity, and is headed up by an E-board of undergraduates. This week was a big week for students here because elections for said position occurred. It’s a rather well known time of the year because the candidates do a lot of campaigning. They stand out in the student union during voting hours and encourage other students to get out and vote.

It’s a very exciting time of year because a lot of things are happening, and very soon we’ll figure out who will be in charge of the Student Association for next year!

So, these next couple of weeks look to be very interesting! This coming weekend UB is getting visited by BJ Novak, who is a writer for the Office, and an actor for the show as well. He is part of the Comedy Series being provided by our Student Association! It’s looking to be a very funny show, and free to undergrads!

The week after is also a really big production for a couple of our clubs on campus, namely, UB Con. UB Con is a big gaming convention run by a couple of clubs in the Student association. It usually gets a really big turnout, and it’s pretty cool to see a lot happening on campus. One of the things being a big nerf war! Should be interesting to see.

Long story short, next couple of weekends are going to be a good amount of fun-busy!

For those of you who came out to check out UB open house last weekend, I hope you all had a great time!

Some highlights for me were getting to meet a lot of the accepted students, answering questions was fun and it’s always great to see people excited to be here! It was a very good time and I got the feel that a lot of people had a lot of questions answered.

If you missed it, don’t worry! You can always come visit the campus for the Visit UB program, and get another look!

Buffalo always has the real ability to be a treat, and so when my friends tell me they’d like to visit me, I get really excited. There’s always so much to do here, and it’s easy to find activities that occupy an entire group for hours.

This past weekend, I had a few friends from home come to visit for a night. I was able to introduce them to the campus as a whole, and a bunch of my friends. We followed up a day of general hanging out and catching up with an evening of night-life. I drove them to a few places, let them check out a few bars, and everyone had a smashing good time.

It proves to me, time and time again, that nothing really beats just spending time with friends, new or old. And, it’s also proven that Buffalo is a great place to do it!

So anyone from upstate New York (Western NY, Central Region, etc) has probably noticed one thing; winter is upon us! It’s the perfect time to start bundling up, and getting ready for the scraping of cars and drinking of lots and lots of hot chocolate. Personally, winter is my favorite season. I love the look of the snow, and I very much enjoy the winter season in general. I’m somewhat biased, because I always have had the most fun in the winter. Between skiing, winter vacation and seeing my family, I never have a feeling of any work looming over me, and I’m not actually ‘working’ typically.

I always wonder how other people spend their time in the winter though! I know I used to spend a lot of time skiing, and I have had friends that rode snowmobiles and things of that nature, but I suppose its interesting to me what other people find as fun. Lately I know I spend a lot of time hopping coffee shops and surfing the web.

At any rate, I’m eagerly awaiting snow, and replies! Feel free to comment about what you do during the winter for fun!

Registration is very frequently exciting; between planning your next semester, trying to get a handle on the new material and just getting yourself organized is fun. It’s great that you get to plan your own schedule, too, because you have the opportunity to really steer yourself in the direction you want to go. If you want to get up early in the morning, you can usually find classes for that. Or if you really want a day off for work, or just to relax, you have that opportunity too, providing you can find the classes to fit correctly.

There are some stressful aspects; sometimes the classes you need close up, and you have to keep watching to get into a section that may have an opening. People add and drop a lot of classes up until the end of the next semesters add/drop period, so you usually can find a way in. I can say that in my semesters here, I have been very lucky and never have been locked out of a class.

Having said that, next semester is going to look interesting! I’ll have mostly morning classes, and Thursdays off! It’ll be interesting to see what a day off will be like, but it will none-the-less be an interesting experience! And it will give me plenty of time to study biochemistry and organic chemistry…

Happy Halloween all!