Friday, May 13, 2011

Has it already been a year?

Lo and behold, the cliche has proved itself true. Freshman year flew by faster than I could blink! Finals, packing, and saying goodbye has consumed my life this week! The frantic exchanging of skype names as a car is honking in the PW circle as well as tearful long goodbyes between close friends fill the halls. I am torn: as excited as I am to go home and see my family and friends, I am not ready to leave my home under the Dome. But, on the bright side, I'm only a freshman (a sophomore now!) so I've still got three more years left at Notre Dame.

This summer is going to be super busy for me. I've got plenty of things to keep me going! After a week or two of time to sleep and leave my room only for food, I am going to be shadowing my primary care physician who I have been seeing ever since I moved to Memphis. I can't wait to learn about her practice!

The most exciting thing that I'll be doing this summer is traveling to Rajasthan, India to teach students up to the 12th grade US History and English pronunciation. Essentially, I'm going there to expose them to American culture and be a poster child! I am so thrilled! I already have my flights planned out and I'll be starting my application for my visa once I finish this post. There is internet at the school so I will continue to post throughout my trip. The posts that I write while in India will also appear on The Hub. Keep an eye out for those!

With that, I have some more packing to do before my parents arrive in a few minutes to pick me up! The pictures of the Dome in the spring were taken by a friend of mine named Matt McCurdy. Kudos to him on his excellent photography! God bless and safe travels to everyone who is headed home from school or traveling elsewhere!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Tunnels under Notre Dame

Ever wonder why it looks like a random patch of grass has been plowed of snow during the winter on campus? That pathway across North Quad, or the one between Flanner and Grace? All those spots around campus are actually tunnels! Students on campus have an opportunity to take a tour of these tunnels and two sections in PW did just that. Read on for some of the interesting facts you never knew about the tunnel system under Notre Dame!

First and foremost, the tunnels under campus are HOT! Walking through the tunnels felt like a sauna, although it wouldn't quite fit the 'purifying' aspect of a true sauna. These tunnels are filled with pipes and more pipes carrying water and steam throughout campus. They were never meant for students to use to go to class during winter. They maintain an average of one hundred degrees fahrenheit no matter the weather outside. Imagine walking into that with all of your winter gear on. No thank you!

On campus, our air conditioning is a bit different than most places. Usually, air is cooled and then blown out of the conditioner to provide, you guessed it, cool air. However, at ND, the plant chills large amounts of water which are pumped to campus (not through the tunnels). The chilled water is funneled through a radiator-like system and air is blown through the bars to provide cool air. Now you would think that the powerplant uses more steam and energy to heat us up during the cold South Bend winters but actually, it goes through more steam in the summer to provide cooling!

Last year, around November, there was an electrical fire inside the tunnels near the LaFortune student center with no known cause. LaFun was closed for nearly two days and smelled like smoke for weeks! They were forced to leave the doors to the building open to try and air it out so it was definitely a few cold weeks to study in LaFortune that year!

If you are a senior at our Lady's university, going on the tunnel tour sponsored by the staff at the power plant is more beneficial than for the common student. Only during the tour during Senior week, you are allowed to sign the tunnel walls at specific points along the tour. As we walked through the tunnels, once we got our minds off the heat, it was super cool to be able to see all of the seniors who had been here before us.

A little bit of trivia to finish us off: back in the 80's there was a man, a previous employee of the university utility staff, who really wanted to hear a Presidential speech that was occurring in the JACC. Having his handy-dandy key to the tunnels, he decided to traverse underground to the JACC so that he could listen. Little did he know, when he opened up the hatch to step into the JACC, the secret service men were waiting for him! Needless to say, he enjoyed the company of our wonderful secret service men until the President's plane was airborne.

That's it! I hope you enjoyed these fun facts about the tunnels under Notre Dame. High fives to all of the great workers who keep water flowing for our showers and heat for those cold winter nights.

Monday, May 2, 2011

The Advantages of a Listserv

When you first arrive at Notre Dame, the Student Activities Office (SAO) puts on a huge activities night inside the JACC. Booths line the walls and the spaces in between with clubs trying to get your attention and your membership. This is where you will meet your first super clingy friend at Notre Dame: the listserv.

Essentially a mailing list, clubs use listservs to email information out to of all their members and anyone who may randomly sign up. They are extremely useful things, but beware, when you run through activities night signing up for every club in sight, it is going to take you hours to go through all the emails you'll receive!

I was one of those happy-go-lucky freshmen who signed up for a good ten clubs or so. The reason I bring listservs up at all is that I actually attended my very first event hosted by the SMBB (Society for Mind, Brain and Behavior) club called a "Neural Networking" event. Even though I have been a member of the club all year but hadn't attended any meetings whatsoever, they were more than welcoming and my early fall obsession with getting my name on listservs proved fruitful. It was a fun night at Legends getting to talk to different professors about their work so I thought I would share a blurb on each of the professors I talked to and a bit about their research.

First comes Dr. Augustin Fuentes, an anthropologist. Dr. Fuentes is going on sabbatical for the next year so he doesn't have any research spots open but his goals are vastly applicable. He is trying to bring several different fields of study together including biology, anthropology, math and philosophy. It is his mission to merge them so that each individual researcher can gain the most insight through working with other fields. He was a great conversationalist so if you get a chance, take a class of his or do research with him!

The next professor I was able to speak with was a Mr. Milano. He works with psychology students, graduates and 23 inch tall robots with children diagnosed with varying degrees of Autism. He also has worked using Wii balance boards for stroke victims. He was very passionate about his work and seemed to have a lot of student involvement so I highly recommend working with him.

Lastly, I spoke with Joseph O'Tousa, a biology teacher at our wonderful university. He specializes in working with Drosphilia (common fruit fly for the non-science majors) and on how vision impairment in drosphilia can be useful in determining the causes for vision issues in humans. His claim to fame is that he actually discovered the first neurodegenerative disease relating to vision in drosphilia. I am thrilled to be able to take him for a biology class next semester.

In conclusion, even if it seems crazy, if you are willing to sift through countless emails, sign up for as many clubs and listservs as you can. (All within reason of course.) You never know when something on your calendar will open up and you can go to your first event -- even if it is in the last three weeks of the school year.

For more information on research at Notre Dame check out http://www.nd.edu/research/ and click through the professors to see if they are looking for students for a project you are interested in. Happy researching!