Be Careful What You Wish For

Hello everyone and welcome to the weekend! As always, I'm excited to have a few days off to relax and catch up on work.  I'm also looking forward to this coming week for many reasons (one being the parent Knight Chat on Monday night).  Next week is winter break for Winooski High School, where I intern in an alternative classroom.  Though I really enjoy working there, I'm excited to have a few extra hours to myself next week!

Anyway, you may be wondering about the title of this post.  As you may have noticed at the bottom of one of my previous posts, I really love Sam Hunt (not to be confused with Sam Smith, though he's great too).  Naturally, when I found out he was coming to Higher Ground, a small but awesome venue just a few minutes from Saint Mike's, I simply had to go.  His show was scheduled for the day before Valentine's Day.  My friends Hanna (who I intern with) and Emma (my roommate for two and a half years) love Sam Hunt as well, so I thought it would be really fun to go as a Valentine's Day treat to ourselves.

Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned, as I know all too well.  I was a little too slow in buying my tickets, and by the time I got around to it (only a few days after they had gone on sale), they were sold out.  Needless to say, I was pretty bummed.  Despite various efforts to get tickets, it didn't work out.

Here's where the title comes in.  Instead of going to see Sam Hunt last Friday, I ended up going to Starbucks - and getting a delicious chai tea latte - with Emma and our friends Sarah and Cara.  We probably spent about two hours there just chatting and having a great time.  When I arrived back at my townhouse, my roommates were waiting for me to tell me they were having a "Merrill Appreciation Day" party since we never had a birthday party for me (yes, we are in college and still have birthday parties, complete with cake, candles, and presents, for each other).  Emma and the girls had been in on the surprise and had purposefully kept me out for a while.  Even though I later put the pieces together and figured out that I'd had many hints throughout the day, I was completely surprised.  More than that, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for my friends.  They got me my favorite snacks and dessert, and invited some of my favorite Saint Mike's people to come hang out.  I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually happy I wasn't able to get Sam Hunt tickets.  I'm sure he will go on tour again!

I'm not blogging about this to brag about how awesome my friends are (ok, maybe I'm doing that a little bit).  What I really want to get across is that this isn't an uncommon occurrence at Saint Mike's.  My friends and I had a surprise party for one of my roommates Caitlin during our first year, and just a few weeks ago we had a surprise birthday party for our housemate Lauren.  I have met some truly incredible people during my four years here, and I am so grateful for them.  They have made my Saint Mike's experience exponentially better.  (Shout out specifically to my roommates Lauren, Alex, and Caitlin as well as Emma.  Love you all!)

Had to include this because it's super cute!

To all of the recently accepted students - congratulations!!  I hope that, if you decide to make Saint Mike's your second home, you will treasure your time here as much as I have.  It is truly a wonderful place and I can't imagine myself anywhere else.

Have a great weekend, and remember, just because things might not turn out as planned doesn't mean they won't be ok (or more than ok) anyway! :)

Thanks for reading!
Merrill

PS This week I've been listening to a ton of different music, including Sam Hunt (obviously), Christina Perri, Paramore, and some film scores (thank you Caitlin for influencing my Pandora choices).