It's been a while...

posted by: Esi

It's been a while and a very busy second half of the semester. Things have been very well. Two weeks ago was spring break and I spent my time at home. It was a great spring break with a great ending. The 17th was my 21st birthday. The night before I went into the city with my boyfriend to see RENT which was AMAZING! The night of my birthday I went out with my family (I know REALLY wild) but afterwards I went to my friend's house only to find a SURPRISE party for me! It was definitely the best birthday and spring break that I've had yet!

Class selection started this week. Thanks to student teaching I only have to register for one class. I can't believe next year Ill be a senior. That is INSANE!

Room selection is also approaching quickly. Three of my friends are trying to go out for an apartment or pod for next fall. Wish us luck!

This summer I'll be working on the Orientation Staff! I will be 1 of 7 Rider students to help welcome in the new freshman class! I was very excited to get the news and our first retreat is this Friday night! I can't wait to see how the summer goes!

The nice spring weather is FINALLY starting to kick in. It makes me want the summer to come quickly. Pretty soon the campus will be buzzing with people barbecuing, playing catch and Frisbee and just walking around. This is my favorite time to be at Rider.

Until next time...
Esi

The Sound of Music

posted by: Katie



Pretty much the entire reason I went to Austria was because I am a HUGE Sound of Music fan. I watch the movie all the time, and even have the sound track. It was always my dream to go and take the tour in Salzburg, Austria, and while I was here, I thought that I should take that opportunity.

So, the company that does the Sound of Music Tour picked us up at our hotel, and drove us to where the bus was for the tour. The tour took us around the town of Salzburg, and the tour guide, who was so funny and awesome, showed us spots that the movie took place.

We also got off the bus a few times to see places up close, and took a lot of pictures. I had to do everything they did in the movie! But going on the tour was so cool, I was able to recognize so much! I was even able to answer a trivia question right, I was the only one on the tour who knew the name of the mountain Maria sang on at the beginning of the movie (the untersberg) and I was probably the biggest dork.

The tour showed so much countryside and the town! A lot of it was covered in snow, so it was kind of depressing, but it was beautiful nonetheless. We drove past places like the Hoensalzburg fortress, where I went the day before, and drove through the town. Then we went to the house that the movie used for the back of the von Trapp villa, where the lake was. It was so cool to see it up close! Then we went to Hellbrunn Palace, where the gazebo from the movie is kept now, but it was sadly locked, and I couldn't dane in it. But I got a few good pictures. Then we drove up into the mountains, and saw the little Bavarian villages that dwell high above the city of Salzburg. We saw the church where Maria and the captain got married in the movie and we went to this little restaurant that is said to have the best apple strudel. It was so good! Worth the snow for a tasty treat like that. Then we went around the mountains and saw all the mountainscape, the lakes and all that, like how they pan around Austria in the beginning of the movie. Then I went to Mirabell gardens, where the song Do Re Mi was done, or at least a lot of the dancing was there. I danced like they did, which was probably pretty sad. And then I went to the house they used for the movie in the front, and went right up to the door! (it's a school now, so it was ok). And I got a lot of great pictures and fufilled my secret little Sound of Music dream!

I had a blast, and then returned home to London, where the story continues again...
-Katie

Spring Break: Part II

posted by: Katie

I took a little bit more of a spring break, and when I left Spain, I flew back to England and my boyfriend came to visit me for his (Rider's) spring break. We then went to Salzburg, Austria for 4 days and had a blast.

The first full day we were there we went to the Hoensalzburg Fortress. It's one of the oldest fortresses in Europe, built around 900 A.D. by the archbishops, the rulers of the principality, before it became part of Austria. It was huge! It's located in the center of the city, but on the highest cliff! It can be seen from anywhere in the city, and it is immense. Inside it was really interesting, since it was a fortress, it had so much inside, it was like a little city within it. We went on the tour of the fortress and learned about Salzburg's history.

We then went down Salzburg's major street, where all the shops are. The street had signs over every shop. They were very pretty. The signs were a tradition nowadays, since long ago the people couldn't read, they would look on the signs above the shop and learn what kind of shop it was by what was pictured.

Salzburg is also the birthplace of Mozart, so there was so much of him around the town, everyone was selling things with his name or picture on it. .

We got to see the house he lived in before he became famous, the one he was born in. It was so interesting to see something about someone so famous and well known as Mozart and where he began it all.

Austria was a beautiful country, and so much snow! The mountains were so beautiful. Sadly, I'm not a skier so I couldn't experience the mountains as most people who go to Austria do. I hope to go back when it's warmer one day, and see the city in a new light.

I'll tell you about the tour I took in Austria soon, the Sound of Music Tour! There's so much to say about that!

Katie

My spring break adventures

posted by: Katie
I spent the most awesome week of my life in Spain, the Canary Islands. I went with four of my girlfriends, and it was probably the best trip I could have taken with friends.
We had a beautiful apartment on the island of Tenerife,and it looked over the ocean, where we had breakfast on the terrace every morning! It was so awesome to wake up, and go right to the terrace to eat and gaze at the sun over the ocean and the palm trees. It was like 80 degrees there! We basically wore our bathing suits the entire
time, and just hung out on the beach. Every day was looking for a new beach. They were so beautiful! It was all black sand beaches and blue water, so not like the Jersey Shore!

Our nights were spent looking for awesome restaurants. We went to a few places that were really fun to go to, like a Spanish restaurant that the host was a matador, and we had a lot of fun with him!!He gave us sombreros while we ate, and it was so funny. He would always talk to us, and we even got free stuff! And one night we went to a 5 star hotel for dinner and we pretended to be rich...And then the next day would come and we would start again with a beautiful beach...

It was so beautiful and warm there, that it was so amazing. Soon I'll let you know what I was up to in Salzburg, Austria...which was my part II of Spring break.

Katie

SPRING BREAK IS here!

posted by: Esi

Oh how the semester flies! I'm all packed up and ready to start my spring break in Verona!...New Jersey...not Italy. Ill be home for spring break (again) which is okay because that means I'm guaranteed LOTS of time to sleep and catch up on my television watching. I'm also celebrating my 21st birthday over break so I am VERY excited for that.

Yesterday, the Rider Vibes performed at the LASO (Latin American Student Organization) Talent Show. The money that they raised helped to support the Big Brother Big Sister Mentor program. We closed the show singing two songs: Weezer's Island in the Sun and Disco Classic, Funky Town. We had a great time and it seemed really well received. We're starting to get ready for our spring concert that will hopefully be sometime in April.

On Monday, Anthony Rapp who played Mark in RENT came to our school. I was so excited since I recently jumped on the RENT train. A few of my friends and I got there an hour early only to find that there was already a line from the door. He talked about his new book "Without You" and talked about love, loss and of course RENT. The talk was great he's a really great speaker and he even sang for us TWICE! He raffled off twenty of his books and my boyfriend and two of my other friends won them. Anthony Rapp signed autographs afterward and I got my copy of the movie signed and a picture. My boyfriend got his book signed and gave it to me! I was VERY happy about that.

I hope to finally see the play during spring break, I'm very excited.

I hope everyone has a great spring break, the weather has been warm hopefully it'll continue into next week!

Esi

Mid-terms in England

posted by: Katie

Since midterms are here, my friends and I decided that we had to do something to perk ourselves up, and do something fun. We just couldn't study anymore! So we signed up for a trip to Leeds Castle in Kent, southof London, and known as one of the "most beautiful castles in England" and a wine tasting tour.

The day we left was very rainy, and probably not one of the best days to go look at a castle and its grounds. But we tried to make the best of it. The grounds of Leeds castle had a lot to do. First we had to walk from the coach park, up a hill for about 15 minutes, to get to the castle. The grounds were beautiful, and surrounded by "the duckery." Leeds Castle was purchased by an American heiress in the 1920's and was remodeled for her, and she loved birds, so there are several ponds dedicated to exotic birds. As we approached the castle, the outside of it did resemble a medieval fortress, as there was a gate and a barbican that was fun for pictures. We were able to walk around the castle and were able to take pictures within the castle. We even found out that the foundation that keeps up the care of the castle still meet inside, and even live there for a week when making decisions. It was kind of depressing that the castle was modified and looked more modern. But it was a beautiful castle, surrounded by a real moat. We then went to a small area a little further from the castle, where the workers used to live, but was now modified to take care of guests, with a restaurant, fowlery and little shows for kids with Henry VIII, the last king to live there. We went to the maze, which was made of high hedges, and got so lost. There was a man at the center who directed us, and when we got there, it was this small rock fortress that we could look from onto the maze. We then were able to go below it, where the grotto was. It was made of stone and underground and filled with small fountains and tile work. It was really beautiful under there.

Afterwards we went back to the coach we arrived on and went to Chapel Down, the winery.
We went on a tour of how to make wine and sparking wine, which is just champagne with a different name. Then we sat down and had a wine tasting. It was so cool. They gave us glasses to taste several wines, and we were able to take notes on it, and they taught us how to taste wines. It was a lot of fun, the release from midterms that we needed. We then came back to Richmond, and were absolutely exhausted. It was a fun and exciting day.

By the time you read this, I'll be in Spain and Austria! Having a total blast! I'll make sure to tell you all about it...for those in snowy New Jersey...

Katie