Hi everyone! It's been a while since I last posted, so I thought I would tell you a little bit about what I've been up to over the past eight months! First of all, I've created a new blog that I've started posting to fairly regularly. This blog also incorporates posts about travel as well as fashion, beauty, and general things that have been happening in my life. So if you'd like to check that out, follow this link:
http://christiegoyette.blogspot.com/
Shortly after my last post, I finished up my internship in Seattle and headed home for the rest of the Summer. I arrived home at a perfect time, because I got to be with my mom on her birthday and spend some time with her after she had surgery. A couple of times during the Summer, I went up to Vermont where my sister goes to school. She had a theatre internship in which they had professional actors come for the Summer to work along with students to give them some experience producing professional-level plays. The first play I saw was called
Rumors and was a farcical mystery play, and it was really funny! The second was called
Shout and was a musical primarily based around women and dating in 1960s London. That one was really good too and had some great music. But during the second play, a bat had somehow gotten into the theatre and kept swooping down at the audience! At one point it almost hit one of the girls on stage during a serious solo performance and you could tell she was shaking because of it. It was terrifying at the time, but pretty funny to look back on! While in Vermont, I also went to the Magic Hat Brewing Company and took a free brewery tour! It was my first brewery tour, which was so cool and even though I'm not really a fan of beer, it was fun sampling a bunch of the Magic Hat beers!
 |
| with my mom on her birthday in downtown Plymouth |
 |
| I loved having so much quality time with little Chloe while I was home :) |
 |
| at the Magic Hat Brewing Company with my parents, aunt, uncle, and cousins |
 |
| at the Magic Hat with my dad, wearing the "Magic Hat" ;) |
 |
| Burlington, Vermont |
Not too long after that, I moved down to Elon for my last year of college—crazy but also so exciting! This year, I am in an apartment off campus and decorated my room to look really good! My Fall class schedule was pretty difficult, but I managed to do well in all my classes. I also got a campus job in the Global Education Centre (the study abroad office), and I've really enjoyed it! Between this job and my EF internship, I've decided I definitely want to work in international education after I graduate. About a month into the semester, it was my final Parents' Weekend, and my mom and dad came to visit. We had a lot of fun together and went to the football tailgate, did some shopping, got lots of good food, and just enjoyed spending time together!
 |
| my room! I took these pictures when I first moved in before I was totally organised, but you can get an idea of how it looks! |
 |
| Parents Weekend! |
 |
| Parents Weekend! |
 |
| my friend Carly joined me and my parents for dinner one night |
Probably the most exciting part of the Fall semester was Fall Break. My friend Carly's family has a beach house in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, so she and I went there for five days along with her adorable puppy! It was a little cold and rainy, so we couldn't go to the beach, but we still had a lot of fun. We had a low-key break and slept late every day, explored the local area, shopped, and then did a day trip to Myrtle Beach. It was a perfect way to relax before going back to lots of homework and stress on campus!
 |
| a big outdoor shopping centre in Myrtle Beach |
 |
| the Myrtle Beach board walk |
After Fall Break was Homecoming! I got to see a bunch of my friends who graduated, so that was awesome! Then not too long after that was my sorority's Formal. I took my friend Andrew as my date, and it ended up being so much fun!
 |
| with my sorority "G-big" Ellen at Homecoming |
 |
| with my sorority "Big" and "G-big", Rachel and Ellen at Homecoming |
 |
| One of the most exciting parts of Homecoming weekend—I met Emily Maynard from the Bachelorette who was at the Elon football game! |
 |
| all dressed up for the sorority formal |
 |
| with my friend Andrew on our way to formal |
Then came Thanksgiving Break, finals, and then finally Winter Break! Over break, I relaxed a lot, went to some Christmas and New Year's parties, and had a great time spending some time with family. I got so many great presents for my birthday and Christmas, did some shopping, and lots and lots of baking! This Winter Break was about a week longer than Elon's Winter Breaks usually are, so it was really nice having extra time at home to relax.
 |
| Elon looked so pretty and Christmasy around exam time! |
 |
| heading to a Christmas party |
 |
| Christmas Eve |
 |
| Christmas Eve with my mom, sister, aunt, and cousins |
 |
| the tree on Christmas morning! |
 |
| Chloe loved her new bed and toy <3 |
 |
| New Years Eve! |
 |
| with my dad on New Years Eve |
 |
| with Chloe on New Years Eve |
After break ended, it was time for Winter Term. This year, I took a special class that travelled to New York and Washington, DC for 10 days! We studied wealth and poverty in the two cities which I found really interesting. In New York, we stayed on the Upper West Side and had some time to explore and sightsee when we weren't doing things for class. I had never been to New York for more than two days at a time, so spending six days there was really nice! Then in DC, we only had one full day in which we went to the Martin Luther King memorial for MLK Day, and then had the rest of the day off to sightsee and explore. Then unfortunately the next day, we were forced to leave a day early because a huge snowstorm was due to hit DC and the entire city was shutting down. I wrote a blog post on my new blog that includes lots of pictures from New York and DC, so if you'd like to see those, click the link I added to the beginning of this blog post!
 |
| Washington Square Park in NYC |
 |
| Times Square |
 |
| the class in front of the Jefferson Memorial |
 |
| the Martin Luther King monument |
 |
| the White House |
Spring semester has been pretty good so far! I'm only taking two classes, which is really nice, but I've been getting so much homework, and I've been working a lot of hours at work, so I've still kept pretty busy. A few weekends ago, I went down to Atlanta with my business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi, which was so much fun! I had gone the year before as well, but this year we were in a hotel right in the middle of downtown which was so cool. We got to explore Atlanta a lot more, and went out to the Buckhead bars again like we had the year before. I also got to see my GG-big from my sorority! She lives in Atlanta and I hadn't seen her in over two years, so it was so great to see her again! I also wrote a blog post about my weekend in Atlanta in more detail over in my other blog!
 |
| the AKPsi group at a bar in Buckhead |
 |
| reunited with Jessie! |
Then last weekend, my mom came to visit! It was so great to have her here, and it was crazy that it was the last time she'll be here until I graduate in just over two months. Unfortunately, the first night she was here, there was a bad ice storm and the entire area lost power and shut down. On the bright side, I didn't have to go to my Friday morning class, but it also meant there wasn't much to do that day. We ended up finding a Japanese teppenyaki restaurant that I had never heard of before that ended up being really good! We got chicken teppenyaki and a California roll sushi, then went to YoZone for frozen yogurt, and then drove to Greensboro to try and get a hotel room, since my apartment had no power. We got a bottle of wine and spent the night relaxing and watching HGTV. The next day, the bad weather was gone and it was a really nice sunny, warm day! We headed back to Burlington where we spent some time at Alamance Crossing. We went to Brixx for lunch, and it was even nice enough to eat outside! We also did a little shopping and then went to a new bakery for some cookies. That night, we went to dinner at a Mongolian grill called Crazy Fire, which is a lot like Fire+Ice in Boston. You put together a plate of everything you want and they make your food into a stir-fry in front of you. Then we went back to my apartment to relax and watch a movie. On Sunday, we had to start making our way toward the airport. We went to the outlets on the way, then went to downtown Chapel Hill to get some lunch at an Irish pub. I got a burger and mac and cheese that had goldfish in! It was so delicious! It was awesome having my mom here to visit, and I am so excited to see her (and the rest of my family!) when I'm home for Spring Break next week.
 |
| watching our teppenyaki lunches being cooked |
 |
| our food at Crazy Fire before being cooked |
 |
| at lunch in Chapel Hill |
Finally, last night my friend Lauren who I lived with last Spring came to visit! She transferred to the University of Wisconsin after spending the Fall semester in Barcelona, so I hadn't seen her in so long! A big group of us went to dinner together at a Mexican restaurant called La Fiesta. I was really lucky and got to sit next to Lauren, so we could get caught up on everything that's been happening since I saw her last May. We got margaritas that were delicious and some really good food. Later on that night, I met up with Lauren again at a party. She's going to be here for a couple more days, so I'm excited to spend some more time with her before she heads back to Wisconsin!
 |
| roommate reunion with Carly and Lauren! |
On Friday, I get to head home for Spring Break! I can't wait because this semester has been really crazy and it will be good to have some time to relax and spend some time with my family and with Chloe.
I'm not sure if I'll be posting on this blog anymore since I made a new one, so be sure to check it out if you want to see more updates from me! And if you do, leave me a comment on one of the blog posts so I'll know you checked it out! :) Thanks for reading! xx Christie
