Say Hello to Summer!

By Genevieve Buthod

Oh my goodness that was a long first year! At the same time, I can’t believe how quickly it went by. We all worked so hard, and it feels like we never really got much time to think about what we had accomplished. The final jazz concert went very well, and everyone who came seemed to have a great time. I was so happy I had time after the All Campus Excellence awards dinner to visit my jazz history teacher, Pete Carney, and ask him for some impromptu improv lessons. That hour-long jam session was an invaluable help to my solos, and I’m so glad we have such good music instruction at our school!

As a good-bye, to the city, I decided to spend one last weekend in Chicago. I took a friend downtown and then up to Wicker Park and Bucktown. It was a blast sifting through really cool old bikes and jewelry in hidden vintage shops, and looking at fair trade clothing and coffee in all the socially-conscious spots up there. We found some adorable hand-made, hand-photographed books at Renegade Handmade, and had an unbelievably delicious lunch at Crust (which is home to the best vegan pizza I’ve ever had in Chicago—what a great find for a hungry vegan!). I will certainly miss the big city when I go home to St. Louis for the summer, but some old SXU friends of mine said I could crash with them when I come up to hang out, so I’m planning to be up in Chicago a good deal before the next semester begins. What can I say, when you fall in love with a city, it’s hard to stay away for long.

Finals were a bit more stressful than I was anticipating. I stayed up to finish a paper last night, and ended up getting to see the sunrise from the third-floor sunroom in Pacelli hall, right by my room. It was such a beautiful view, it almost made the exhaustion from finals week worth it. I was so happy I got a chance to say goodbye to everyone I knew I would miss, and a chance to see all of my professors before I left for summer. I needed to find these professors in particular because I needed to return a ton of books they had lent me over the course of the year, but it turns out, they immediately just suggested I continue reading them over the summer! So, I guess I didn’t really have to worry about it after all. I am so excited to start my sophomore year next year, hopefully as an ambassador in the Admissions Department. I absolutely love leading new students to a fantastic university that would serve them well, and I hope to be able to do what I love all next year.

So long, cougars, and have a wonderful summer!

-Genevieve

Genevieve Buthod is a freshman from St. Louis, MO. She is computer science major and a women's studies minor. Buthod is a vegan and part of the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) at Saint Xavier.