one of those moments.

After nearly three years at Notre Dame, I have experienced a lot of new things ... some good, some not so good. I have met 7 amazing girls that are now my Notre Dame Family. I have met more people from all over the world than I ever thought was possible. I never cease to be amazed at the caliber of people that I am surrounded by on a daily basis. I have taken 30 courses, some of which I absolutely loved and some that were a true struggle to pay attention in. I have spent countless hours in the library, pulled many all-nighters, drank too many cups of coffee, and read dozens of new books. I have cried too many times to count, spent too much time stressed, but all the while, I have loved every minute of my time at Notre Dame.

It is kind of funny because it is so easy to get caught up in the day to day hustle and bustle of college life, that I forget how truly blessed I am to be here. I can remember telling mom and dad that I was going to go to Notre Dame someday when I was ten years old. I vividly remember the first time we drove up Notre Dame Ave and saw the golden dome (which is still one of my favorite views on campus). But of all the things I have learned while being here, the most important is that I absolutely love to LEARN.

It sounds a little funny to say that I love to learn, but I get so much enjoyment out of learning something new. As a history major, I am so intrigued by people and places. On a daily basis, I am in absolute awe of my professors. I am amazed at how much they know, how much they enjoy what they do, and how they are always striving to learn more.

Today, I had one of those "wow, I love this place" moments. Instead of the usual fascination with the beauty of campus, however, this moment was more in fascination of the aura of the university. I feel so at home going to class everyday, learning new things, talking with professors, and discussing interesting facts with my friends. I adore the educational atmosphere and cannot wait to learn new things again tomorrow.

Parlez-vous Francais?

I am currently in my third semester of French here at Notre Dame. It's kind of funny because I took Spanish all through high school, but decided to fulfill my language credit at ND by taking French. While the language is quite difficult and the pronunciation is even harder, I really enjoy it. I think that it is an absolutely beautiful language and am very happy that I decided to try something new.

For class, we were told to watch the movie Monsieur Ibriahim. The film was in French, but we were able to have English subtitles. (To anyone learning a new language: Watching a movie in the language you are learning while using the English subtitles is the BEST way to learn better comprehension skills ... well, it has been working for me at least! haha)

To make a long story short, I was very unsure about this film before I watched it. I have seen several French films and have only liked a few, so I was not sure what to expect. To my surprise, however, this movie was fabulous. It is a story about a young Parisian boy named Momo, his relationship with Ibrahim, and the lessons they learn about life. Seriously, I LOVED it! So if you have a little extra time and want to try something new, then give this movie a shot. I think it has some pretty great lessons!

"Smiling is what makes you happy."

"You can find beauty wherever you look."

"If God wants to reveal life to you, he won't need a book."

"You only have one pair of feet. Look after them. If your shoes hurt you,you change them. You can't change your feet."

"When you want to learn,you don't pick up a book. You talk to someone."

"Your love for her is yours.It belongs to you. She rejects it,but she can't destroy it. She's just missing out on it. What you give, Momo,is yours for good. What you keep is lost forever."

"You can't understand everything with your mind."

"You have to look at them as if to say: "I've never seen such beauty before." For men like you and me... not Alain Delon or Marlon Brando...you're beautiful through women."

junior parents weekend.

This past weekend, my parents came to visit for Junior Parents Weekend!



Over the past three years, I have always heard people talk about how great JPW was, but it definitely surpassed all of my expectations. It was so amazing to be able to meet everyone's parents and to show our parents what it is like to be a part of the ND Fam.



The weekend began on Friday with dinner at one of our favorite hang outs: Main Street Pub.

It was great to go to dinner with Casey's family, Erica, and our friend Dex's parents. My friend David, who I met on my trip to New Orleans was also able to come with us!


The food and Main Street Pub is great and it is always a fun and relaxing place to go. They were getting geared up for St. Patrick's Day, so they had a very entertaining array of shirts for sale ... of course, my roommate Casey had to get one! haha.















Next was the Opening Gala on Friday night. This was such a great experience! They had the gala in the Joyce Center (the basketball arena and the fieldhouse). The night was filled with good food (especially the desserts!), great friends, and dancing! The dress code was semi formal and everyone looked absolutely fabulous all dressed up!

Here we are with some of our guy friends ... we were all on the dance floor and mom wanted a picture of everyone! (Thanks for all the pictures mom!)













Claire, Brianna, Casey, and I were waiting for the other girls to come ... it is always so much fun to get all dressed up!

Here is part of the group ... Claire and her parents, Casey and her parents, Joe and his family, and of course, me and mom and dad!

Dad and me.

I can't even begin to explain what an amazing experience Friday night was. It was so great to see everyone having such a great time with their parents. There was no awkwardness, no embarassment, but just everyone getting to know each other and experiencing life at ND.

On Saturday, we had a luncheon in our dorm, Lyons Hall. We had lunch in the chapel in the basement and ate Bruno's pizza! (My favorite) It was nice to just hang out.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to my absolute favorite bar ... THE BACKER!

The "Linebacker Inn" is a small bar right off campus, but I absolutely adore the atmosphere of the place. It was really fun to be able to take my parents there because I am pretty sure I was able to convert them to be backer lovers.

On Saturday night we all went to dinner at a restaurant downtown called the Vine. My friend Brianna organized the dinner and we had a room downstairs all to ourselves. We went to dinner with all of the girls, two of our guy friends from Fisher Hall, and all of our parents! Dinner was so delicious.

After dinner at the Vine, we headed to the College Football Hall of Fame, where one of our friends rented out the building for the night. It was all of our friends from the other dorms around campus. They had a DJ, dancing, desserts, and then had the entire Hall of Fame open for us to tour.

It was such a great night!

Finally, the weekend concluded on Sunday morning with brunch. Once again, the food was great and we got to sit with my friend Justine and her parents.


















Lou Holtz was the guest speaker ... he never ceases to amaze me. He spoke about his love for Notre Dame, his experiences at Junior Parents Weekend, and just about life.

Of all the things he said, I had two favorites:

1. He started talking about what made Notre Dame so special ... he said:

If you are a part of the Notre Dame Family, there is no explanation needed ... and if you are not a part of the Notre Dame Family, no explanation will ever suffice.

I thought this was so amazing ... and so true. Even as I am trying to write about this weekend in this blog, I am having a very difficult time finding the words to describe the experience. My time at Notre Dame has been filled with so many magical moments and I can't even explain how fabulous it has been. As my dad put it, "great people at a great place." so true.

2: Lou Holtz said that there are 4 things that you need in life:

1. Something that makes you happy.

2. Something to get up for everyday.

3. Someone to Love.

4. Something to believe in.

Thanks for a great weekend mom and dad!

I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I'm so glad I got to show you what it is like to be a part of the ND Fam!

future president?

My brother Tyrel was awarded President Obama's Volunteer Service Award at the Blue Ridge Board Meeting this month.

http://www.wmicentral.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20258637&BRD=2264&PAG=461&dept_id=506173&rfi=6

He logged over 50 hours of community service ...

Tyrel and Taylor Rock were the only two to recieve the award!
(omg ... they look SO old!)

Tyrel never ceases to amaze me in his genuine care for others. He is such a driven kid and truly amazes me.

With all the things he does, it makes me wonder what is capable of ... who knows, maybe
future president?

happy love day!

happy valentines day!

there are a lot of things in my life that i love, but most of all i love my family (my family and my nd family).

happy love day to everyone ... i hope your day was filled with lots of love.

miss you all. xoxo Rikki

happiness.

This semester I am taking a philosophy classes titled

Friendship and the Good Life

Today in class, we were discussing Aristotle, Plato, and what we thought constitutes happiness.

A lot of different definitions were thrown around ...

"to love and be loved"

"to have all of your wants fulfilled"

"happiness is a state of mind"

"being content with what you have"

obviously, there are many different ways that one can interpret happiness....

But I have come to decide that happiness is a combination of spending time with the one's you love, doing things that bring you joy, and knowing that no matter what, you always have someone there to support you.

With that being said, I thought I would make a list of things in my life that bring me

HAPPINESS

the grotto.

catching a glimpse of the sun beaming off the golden dome.

running around the lakes.

driving and singing with my sister.

hanging out with my buddy P.J.

my genius brother Ty who keeps everyone on their toes.

doing "mom" stuff with my mom.

working out with my dad.

having the time of my life doing absolutely nothing with the girls.

the feeling i get from having a really good vault.

football season.

being a gym rat.

being with the nd family.

looking at the mountain stars.

My list could go on and on, but these are a few of my favorites ...

What makes you happy?

don't worry mom and dad...

This morning while I was enjoying my tall skinny caramel latte (yummm!) from Starbucks, I was very intrigued by the "The Way I See It" on the cup...

"success in life is that your kids want to spend time with you once they have grown up"

well mom and dad, i am pretty grown up (sort of) and i still thoroughly enjoy spending time with you ... i think that makes you VERY successful!

SO:

What happens when you have these three ...

Plus these lovely girls...

Plus their parents ...

AND

friday night gala

saturday night "family dinner"

COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME

(entirely rented out for the night)

sunday morning mass

JUNIOR PARENTS WEEKEND!!!

i can't wait to see you next weekend mom and dad!

college game day.

College Game Day:

ND vs. UCONN

January 24, 2009

Starring: Rece Davis, Hubert Davis, Digger Phelps, Bobby Knight and Jay Bilas.

AND

the GREATEST student body in the nation.

A few weeks ago ESPN held its Basketball College Game Day at Notre Dame

Since its debut in 2005, this was the first time that Game Day was broadcast at Notre Dame. Needless to say, the student body was pumped about it!

Notre Dame had the largest turnout for Basketball College Game Day ... EVER!
LEPRECHAN LEGION (student body) and a BLACKOUT crowd

We decided to make the game a jumper outing ... even though ND lost, it was great to spend time with the JUMPER GIRLS

LOVE THE NOTRE DAME!