The rodeo itself was fun to watch.  There was bull riding, bronco saddle riding, bronco saddle-less riding, and 3 barrel racing.  Watching these events and seeing the balance and strength required to do these events was impressive.  It was a little disappointing to see the horses and bulls used.  They were not the same size or build of what I have seen in other rodeos.  Without a doubt a doubt the best part of the rodeo was the mutton busting.  This is where kids under like 50 pound are placed on top of sheep and cling on for their lives while the sheep runs around.  The kids look like spider monkeys hanging on to a tree.  It is one of the funniest things you can see.  The rodeo was a great time and something that everyone should go and experience.

Searching out a topic was not the easiest project in my time at St. Mary’s.  There are so many areas that I could have focused on for my research that it was really overwhelming initially.  So I decided to look into what I had plenty of experience in.  Since I have participated in sports all my life, I thought it would be interesting to see how exercise affected a person’s ability to focus.  As a result I started to research the past experiments completed on exercise.  I realized that there was not much on people my age.  So I wanted to complete my research on people my age.  After a semester of searching for a topic I finally had one.  I was create an experiment about whether young adults’ fitness level affects how they pay attention to things following exercise.

My internship was spent at Camelot of Des Plaines in Illinois.  I worked as a clinical intern in the various classrooms within the therapeutic day school.  A therapeutic day school is a school for children with various disorders or behavioral issues such as depression, schizophrenia, and autism that prevent them from attending a regular school.  So as an intern I helped in faculty meetings as well as classrooms by providing input on situations that may occur.  I would help students with work assignments, assist in crisis situations, and assist in treatment planning for children.  My fellow psych majors had similar experiences within the internships they had.  Based on these experiences, models were created such as my model I placed in the picture.

My model tried to identify treatment factors that can help increase the chances of children being returned to their homes and regular schools.  I looked at treatments from a biological, psychological, and social aspect and how these three aspects can best be implemented together in helping each child.

When Saturday came around, I became very nervous for having to present in front of 60 to 70 people on something that was entirely my own idea.  I was one of the later people to present and I couldn’t tell you what happened as I spoke.  Everything went by so quickly that it seemed like a blur.  I will say that I was glad once it was over.  It was quite a day for everyone involved and something that each presenter was able to be very proud of.

But of course the most important thing about Thanksgiving is the feast at dinner.  I had all the classics I could handle: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberries, green bean casserole, and pecan pie.  Just thinking about all the food I ate is making me full.  The only regret I have is that I did not eat enough…..

The break was spent eating more food the following day also.  There is a hamburger place near my house that I have never tried that has been shown on Dinners, Drive-Ins, and Dives called Paradise Pup.  Their burgers are some of the best that I have had and the fries that come with the burger are awesome.  I got the three layer fries which have Merkt cheddar cheese, sour cream, and bacon all on top of the fries.  Some of the best fries I have ever had.

Now I am back at school, though, and I am looking forward to finishing up the semester.  There are only three weeks left and I have a lot left to do.  Specifically I need to present at the Psychology Symposium this weekend.  The symposium is the major academic gathering for the psychology department and I will be presenting my internship integration.  I look forward to it being over so that I do not have to worry about the work involved anymore.

Going forward it is sad to know I won’t be competitively playing sports any longer, but now I have the opportunity to move in a whole new direction.  I have more time to do things such as traveling, spend more time with friends, and work on my school more.  I know taking part in sports will no longer be a major part of my life but with so much of my life still ahead, I now have the chance to find a new passion to develop and I can’t wait!

It’s definitely a strange feeling having so much of the people from campus gone for the break.  The campus essentially turns into one of those ghost towns from the Wild West.  All that is missing is the occasional tumbleweed bouncing along as you walk through the plaza.  Suddenly any noise you hear, that you would normally dismiss while everyone is here, becomes a huge deal.  A door slams in the hall and you freeze…who could that be. No one else is here.  Walking down the hall there is an awkward uncomfortableness because you know you should be hearing rumblings from the doors you walk by.  Trips to the bathroom become more of an adventure than normal, especially when you think of all the ghost stories that have been told about St. Mary’s.  Suddenly the peace and quiet of having no one else in the dorm is not as nice as you thought it would be.  Of course it’s not an absolutely terrifying time but there is an uneasiness that you would rather not have.  The end of break does not seem so bad after all.

Missouri was an awesome school when I went to visit there.  It had a beautiful campus and I knew people that were going there.  St. Mary’s was very similar but it was on a much smaller scale.  So the time came for me to actually apply to schools and I decided to only apply to Missouri and St. Mary’s.  I had no interest in going to Illinois and I felt like Missouri was very similar to Wisconsin except that I felt there were a couple more benefits to Missouri plus it was less expensive.  After applying I was accepted into both St. Mary’s and Missouri.  So now I had a decision to make.  Either go to a small school with a strong field I am interested in and the possibility of playing soccer or go to a big school with a lot of campus options and a great variety of educational options.  It ended up coming down to the cost of each school.  Both were cheaper than going to the in state schools that I was interested in going to, but St. Mary’s was fairly less expensive than Missouri.  With all benefits applied, I decided to go to St. Mary’s and have not looked back since.  The experience I have had here has been great and I know it has been completely different from what I would have had at Missouri.

Coming from Chicago, I knew I wanted to go away to school so that I could experience a whole different setting and a chance to be independent.  When I started looking at schools, I knew there were not many schools I was interested in in Illinois.  The schools that I did end up looking at were Monmouth, University of Illinois, and Illinois Wesleyan.  I was really not interested in going to any of these schools for various reasons: too small, small dorms, too busy.  Out of state is where I really thought I wanted to go.  This would allow me to be far enough away from home where the person I had to rely on was myself.