SMU Hilltop Ambassadors

I’m probably beginning to sound like a hockey fanatic because I keep talking about the Dallas Stars. Well, there’s more. I can hardly wait to go to game four of the seven game series vs. San Jose tonight. The Stars are on a roll - they have taken a 3-0 lead in the series and they very well could sweep tonight. I was fortunate to get a ticket to the game from someone who is out of town, and I look forward to hopefully watching the Stars close out the series. By winning tonight, the Stars will advance to the Western Conference finals. I can breathe a little easier now because classes just finished today. I actually had two assignments due in two different classes today, so I was working until the last moment. I still can’t decide if I like the last lecture or not. The lectures are good because each professor typically outlines what the final exam will be like while offering advice for which material to review. On the other hand, it can be a very inopportune time to discover how much I need to study or how much I didn’t learn before when finals begin only a few days later. I know one thing for sure - I’m going to be pretty busy over the next couple of days getting ready for finals. We have two reading days before finals begin, and I’ll be using them for lots of rest and studying. Most of my finals are packed together at the beginning of next week. In addition to finals, I’m going to be moving out later next week from my residence hall room. My RA gave me a checklist to go through to make sure my room is in good condition to be checked out. SMU hosts various camps over the summer, and chances are my room will be used by a participant. It needs to be clean and ready for that person to move in.

On Sunday, I’ll be going to an end of the year party for President’s Scholars hosted by Dr. Jim Hopkins and Patti LaSalle. Dr. Hopkins actually chairs the History Department at SMU. The party will give each of us one last chance to chill and catch-up with one another before the long summer break, or in some cases, for an even longer period of time. Many scholars will participate in a summer study abroad program at either Oxford University or in Italy, and others will be gone for the entire fall semester for a program abroad. Each semester is different from the previous semester. New classes, new events, and new environments all contribute to the experience.