The Temptation of a Crunchy Leaf

Fall has definitely arrived here at Notre Dame. Despite the debut of the Starbucks red Christmas cups, I still feel like I'm just warming up to fall. Whether it is my obsession appreciation surrounding scarves or the satisfaction of that "Crunch!" sound as I step on a leaf, I have come to love fall.

There are so many different colors on this beautiful campus from the two evergreens that stand tall in the knoll behind my dorm to the bright red tree that I pass each morning as I walk to class. Especially on days like today where the sky is pure blue and it is a brisk 45 degrees outside, I have the intense desire to go sit in the sun -- after I grab a scarf or second jacket of course.

As far as scarves go, I feel that I may have a problem. That's the first step, right? Admitting you have an addiction to lovingly stitched, colorful scarves? In my dorm room at this very moment, I have eight. From off-white to hot pink to multicolored to a tasseled conglomerate, I have plenty of soft, fluffy variety. The guilty conscience in me is telling me to put at least one in the Project Warmth bin downstairs but I don't think I am quite secure enough in my scarf obsession to relinquish one. All in due time.

Some of you may ask, why on earth do I have so many scarves? There are several reasons. First of all, I knew that moving from the warm south to northern Indiana was going to be a big shocker to my system, therefore, I would need scarves in the winter. Once the collecting had begun, there was no stopping it. Once I was prepared with a  basic array of scarves--a few different kinds to blend with different types of outfits, of course-- I wanted more variety. If I am wearing a red blazer, I cannot wear my hot pink scarf.! Well, I could but...no. Therefore, I need to get a new scarf, otherwise, I won't be warm! Vain, I know, but there you have it. My scarf addiction was born.

Scarves aren't the only reason I adore fall up here. Stepping on a crunchy leaf is like a kind of mini-euphoric moment every time it happens. The administration recognizes the fantastic pastime of crunching leaves or--in better days--jumping into piles of crunchy leaves. In order to prevent crunch-seeking students, like myself, from jumping into the huge piles of leaves that are gathered each day around campus, if one is caught disturbing the tempting pile, you receive a ResLife (which is essentially a jacked-up demerit that goes on your permanent record and can prevent you from getting into graduate schools). Even with the threat of a ResLife, when the soft autumn sun sets on the tall piles of leaves dejectedly sitting out on the sidewalks whispering as the wind gently flows through them, merry crunching sounds can be heard by someone who knows what to listen for. (Not really, but wouldn't that be awesome?)

However, there are some things I do not like about the fall season, although they have little to do with the weather. Because there are lots of people like me who enjoy planning everything extremely far in advance, applications for summer programs and even programs for fall 2012 as all due in the fall months. Applications for NDVision were due before fall break (super competitive), International Summer Service Learning Program applications were due the 30th of October (waiting on a response!) and study abroad applications for Fall 2012 are due on November 15th! (Yikes! I haven't started that one yet!)

Do not forget about Operation Midterm: Round 3. Don't even get me started about the two exams I have next week and organic chemistry the following week. I cannot even think about finals yet.

So much to do and so little time! I think I'll go read a book on the knoll with one of my scarves. La ti da. 

Fight Like a Champion

You would think I would feel bad about being aggressive to take pictures with famous people after having so many people in India sneak pictures of me, the blond white girl. But no, researchers have discovered that aggressive camera use is definitely acceptable, especially when the result is a picture with Regis Philbin!

He is really short but he's adorable!

Regis wasn't the only celebrity alumnus to appear at Notre Dame yesterday. The pep rally for the Michigan State game was graced by the presences of Condoleezza Rice, an ND graduate, the actual Rudy Ruttiger, former head coach Ara Parseghian and the 1966 National Championship winning Fighting Irish football team!

The Real Rudy Ruttiger!

Last night also marked Notre Dame's first professional boxing match hosted in the JACC on campus. "Fight Like a Champion" featured main event Mike Lee, a 2009 graduate of Notre Dame and three time winner of Bengal Bouts, who is now 7-0 undefeated and five other fights. The proceeds from the fight went to the Ara Parseghian Foundation to support research on Neimann Pick Type C disease. The fights were fantastic! We had ringside seats and were close enough to see without having to glance up at the jumbo-tron. Since we were on the floor, we got tickets to the Mike Lee after party where I got an autograph and a picture with him!

He had already showered by this time. :)

Needless to say, last night was a great amazing night spent with my dad and a few friends. Let's just hope the game today lives up to the hype from last night!

Go Irish! Beat Spartans!

Always Remember, Never Forget

Five thousand students gathered in memory: 

9/11/2011

Never forget.

Photo available for purchase through photos.nd.edu

The Pace is Picking Up

Remember when they told us that college would be a lot of reading back in senior year of high school? Teachers warned us it would be as intense as AP World History was back in sophomore year. I thought to myself, scoffing, nothing could ever require as many notes and hours spent reading as AP World. Famous last words, anyone?

Freshman year came and there was 'recommended' reading to do before you attended lecture. Like most freshmen, I was bombarded with eighteen billion things to do all around campus so the reading assignments slipped into the background. Sure, I would skim the section titles in chemistry and I would actually do my Theology readings because they were short and interesting but everything else? Hmm, oh wait, there is glow-in-the-dark putt-putt on North Quad? Pfft, I'll do my reading tomorrow. Always tomorrow, always tomorrow.

Fast forward to sophomore year. I have more reading assignments that I could have ever dreamed of. Lecture (cough biology) is based on the book and even goes in the same order with the same pictures. I had two choices: I could do what I did freshman year and skim the readings and take good notes in lecture which worked out pretty well, or I could actually try to do the readings.

For now, I'm attempting to do all of the required readings before lecture class. Never have I had less free time! I don't know if I ever comprehended exactly how long it takes to read an academic book. I can devour a 500 page Harry Potter book in a few hours and retain everything that happened, no problem, but sit me down with my Anthropology text and twenty pages drags on for an hour!

I don't quite know why there is such a huge difference but it's a problem I need to solve as hundreds of pages of biology and organic chemistry reading pile up on me! Don't forget that the level of events to attend have only increased since freshman year.  Now there are things that I care about that I have committed to: things I can't skip off because I have a little extra reading to do.

I remember when we watched American Pie and thought college was going to be nothing but weekends right after each other with no work. Oh naiveté, where have you gone?

And God said, Let There Be Fish!

At long last, my fish tank that has sat barren (except for a bubble-blowing dragon ceramic) under my television stand is filled with life! Four fish currently inhabit my tank: a black molly, a silver molly and two swordtail fish! They are currently getting used to their home and continue to spaz out if anything comes near their tank. I hope they will calm down a little as they explore their new tank and tank mates.

I had a fantastic visit with my dad today after he drove my car up to Notre Dame. As soon as lunch was mentioned, we were off-campus in a jiffy. Notre Dame has one of the best dining halls in the country (North Dining Hall is better than South!) but sometimes, it is just nice to get off campus. My stomach dutifully snarfed down endless salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden. In between mouthfuls, I was able to catch up with my dad on what was going on in our lives. Olive Garden was super busy today but that isn't too much of a surprise since it is Labor Day. Why else would people randomly go to Olive Garden on a Monday? (Note: We're talking about normal people; I'd go to Olive Garden whenever if I only could!)

Speaking of Labor Day, guess who had class today? That's right, this girl. I walked into my Anthropology class bright and early at 8:30am this morning wrapped in a fleece. By the way, why was it sixty degrees today? It is still early September and it was 96 degrees two days ago, we shouldn't have started our decent into cold yet...right?...please?

Anyways, even my Anthropology teacher was confused at why we were having class on Labor Day. It was the first time he had ever taught on Labor Day! To apologize for making us wake up so early, he gave us a super easy quiz and I'm sure everyone who even skimmed the homework appreciated the free A. It makes sense when you remember that we have an entire week for our fall break while most universities only get a day or two but still, I don't like waking up early. Silly classes only being available at certain times saddled me with 8:30's MWF.

Of course the rest of my classes passed by too slowly because I knew I would get to see my dad as soon as I finished for the day. After what seemed like its own piece of forever, organic chemistry finished and I got a text saying that he was here. After that, there was nothing left to do but climb on my bike and rush back to PW! The time for me to leave him at the airport came way too quickly. Even so, I had a wonderful time picking out fish and eating soup and salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden with my dad.

Cheers for awesome fathers!

345 Coffee Shop: Open for Business

It seems as if I have opened my very own little coffee shop out of my dorm room. Now, I do not drink coffee. I've tried it a few times but am unable to stomach the taste. I've had good and bad responses from this. The good: 'That's great, that way you can't get addicted to it and there's more for me!' and the bad: 'What? You don't like coffee? How do you survive?' As to how my little coffee shop came to be, that's another story.

For my birthday, my parents wanted to give me a true princess gift: something that was absolutely unnecessary yet would be a convenience. Enter Keurig Coffee Maker. The fancy Keurig machines are sweeping offices across the nation--and college dorm rooms-- to provide quick and easy access to coffee at the click of inserting a K-cup and the push of the brew button.

As I sit here typing and drinking my English Breakfast Tea, I can tell you that the machine does not only make coffee but makes all sorts of hot drinks. All you need is the specific K-cup for the drink you want. They are all available online and most are spectacular. My Keurig was bought knowing that I would only be drinking hot chocolate (dark, milk, and white) and tea hence the 'princess gift'. Now, note that I am not complaing. I absolutely love my Keurig coffeemaker!

However, when I opened the box for the Keurig, there were six boxes worth of sample K-cups and guess what? All of them were caffeinated coffee! From the purchase of a second Keurig machine made by my brother and I for my parent's anniversary, I have their sample boxes since my Dad only drinks decaf and my mother, tea. So here I sit, the fanciest contraption currently out on the market on my shelf and over sixty K-cups for coffee. What do I do? Share with my fellow dorm-mates, of course!

I made the offer to all my friends and to the freshmen living in my section that if they want coffee in the mornings that I have 8:30am classes MWF and would be glad to supply them if they brought their own mugs. All I do is write "Coffee's hot!" on my white board. As such, I have three regular coffee drinkers who stop by at different times during the day to get something hot to drink. Slowly but surely, my stockpile of undrinkable (to my eyes) coffee is being drunk by people who enjoy it. I can't believe it has worked out so wonderfully! Once I run out of coffee, I'll give the girls the website to order more of their favorite and tell them that they can store their K-cups under my futon and can have coffee whenever they want!

Got to love my Pdub girls! I know I'll be refilling the water a lot come winter time. Bring it on, South Bend! I have Keurig on my side!

Back Home Under the Dome

I'm all settled in back at Notre Dame and having a blast doing First Year Orientation or, as we like to call it, Frosh-O. We have eighty-seven new freshmen in Pasquerilla West and they are all awesome! Frosh-O is probably one of the best events that Notre Dame has and I have absolutely loved being on staff for it.

The first day of Frosh-O consisted of moving all the girls in. All of the 'Wild, Wild Pasquerilla West's' Sheriffs had sore arms from lugging so many boxes up the stairs. Luckily, I was able to consistently get elevator duty although another staffer and I were beasts putting up modular furniture on the second floor. The parents were surprised at our hidden strength. I told them our enthusiasm for the new freshmen was putting strength into our limbs and making us superwomen. I do love hyperboles.

Last Friday night was the night for sisterhood. We started at an 8pm meeting with our sections and doing some fun activities. Since PW's theme this year is the 'Wild, Wild Pasquerilla West' they painted burlap sacks with their roommates. Once they dry, the girls can use them as room flags or door mats! I was actually kind of jealous. I want a fancy doormat! While they were painting away, I learned most of my section's girls' names. As I am naturally inept when it comes to remembering names, I was thrilled when I got 90% of them right.

Slowly but surely, I'm getting more and more names down and loving being back under the dome.

Peace, love, Dub!

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!

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.

New Directions

Well hello again! Yes, yes, I know it has been too long but I have returned! Who knew that having a Calculus and Organic Chemistry exam would drive one to blogging. Perhaps because blogging is a wonderful tool for procrastination? There are so many options for procrastination, even for blogging itself. But I digress.

You may notice some changes. You probably should have; they are just a teensie bit obvious. As I am officially a science major with a minor in anthropology, our title has been changed appropriately. Also, I felt like the previous background was a bit too...well, daisy-ish. I mean, there doesn't seem to be much of a springtime feel up in the cold midwest! Although in the past week, we've had some wonderful weather so my goal is to keep the background bright but a bit more sophisticated.

A new opportunity has come to my attention today, The Hub. It is similar to a self-sustaining blogosphere, but with a focus on academics and life at Notre Dame. There are posts about proper e-mail etiquette, student research, study abroad experiences and much more. I am in the process of writing up a post on how, as a freshman, I came to decide my major. Keep an eye out for that soon! And this time, I actually mean soon. I promise!

Also, as one of the new liturgical commissioners for my dorm, Pasquerilla West, the work has already begun! We've got plans to beautify our bush in front of the dorm - I promise it has liturgical significance! - as well as start holding Divine Mercy Chaplets every week.

What do you think a good dorm liturgical event would be?

With that, I'm off to go beat procrastination with a stick and try and get some homework done. In laymen's terms, I'm going to dinner.

Long Time No....See?

There are lots of things to talk about today! It has been a busy few weeks! However, before I go into recap mode, the top news of the hour: as a sophomore, I got a single room for next year! How amazing is that? My would-be roommate was also able to hop up onto my room pick number and get the last single. The both of us are sad that we won't be rooming together, yet we are thrilled to have singles! I think I've just about exhausted my exclamation point quota for the post. Yay!!!! There we go, all better now.

Now, I'll attempt to focus...keyword: attempt. By now all of the midterms for this semester are through; I had my last one, calculus, on Tuesday. While I could be happier with my results, they turned out well enough. There is room for improvement that I plan to jump on!

Spring break was last week and it was wonderful. You would think that a week of time to chill would serve as an excellent prerequisite for a blog post, but surprisingly it didn't. A magnificent excess of quality television that lasted until 6am one night was particularly spectacular, though it did have repercussions for my sleep patterns. You notice I say quality television? Just to be clear -- I didn't spend time watching paid programming; Hulu was a good friend of mine last week.

I hate to leave you hanging but I'll have another post up soon with the rest of the news from your very own melodramatic double major. I just don't seem to be able to focus as I am still inwardly 'squee'-ing over my room for next year!

The Benefits of Daily Mass

Never let anyone tell you daily mass isn't worth it. There is nothing like a quick half hour with God to get you back on your feet and motivated to do the ten pounds of Organic Chemistry homework awaiting you in your room. It is especially wonderful for me because I am usually playing guitar/frantically trying to find the page of the song during the times in Sunday mass that are set aside for personal prayer. In short, daily mass is absolutely wonderful and highly recommended!

With my renewal of motivation after mass, I'm ready to tackle my film, television and theater seminar homework but I don't think I'm quite ready for orgo. Toss in a couple more prayers for salvation and we'll see what happens.

I have returned to my debacle considering majors with a slightly more optimistic eye. I think I have a few majors that I would enjoy in addition to my SCPP major. (Forewarning: I use the term 'few' loosely.) To make things even more complicated, I had the brilliant idea that I could just stay with one major and minor in all of the fun things I enjoy. I am planning on making pro/con charts for my potential majors -- let's just say that it might take a wee bit of a long time.

Now that I have kept you waiting with baited breath for the revelation of this little freshman's options, let me clue you in. The potential majors are anthropology-- focusing on medical and biological anthropology--Spanish, psychology, and theology. Maybe medieval studies could find a home on that list as well as theater. As for supplementary majors, there is a Spanish supplementary major, a theology one, and a medieval studies one. Carefully peeking around the corners of the majors wait all of the options for minors: anthropology, education, schooling and society (ESS), liturgical music ministry, science, technology and values (STV), medieval studies and theology.

Lots of choices, I know. Hopefully I will be able to narrow these down before making a pro/con chart. Otherwise, I am going to kill a lot of trees!

(Disclaimer: No trees were harmed in the writing of this post.)

New Masterpiece of Melodrama

At long last, I have decided to document the trials and tribulations of being a (or a soon to be) double major. As my way of introducing myself, why don't I explain how I got to this point.

I am currently a freshman at the University of Notre Dame. I know what you are thinking, oh look, the little freshie is starting a blog. You are exactly right my cutesy voiced friends! Anyways, I have always known that I wished to attend medical school; the only question has been how do I get there. Notre Dame seemed like a good place to start and the university has this bachelor of science degree called science preprofessional (SCPP for short) that is essentially a pre-med major--with extra jelly filling of course. Out of all the schools I looked at during senior year of high school, Notre Dame was the only one with a clearly defined pre-med major. This seemed like a pretty good sign to me!

Now, as a second semester freshman, I am not quite sure it will be enough. What else can I do to increase my chances of medical school acceptance while also taking advantage of being able to study whatever I wish for the next four years of my life? (3 and 1/2 years now, sheesh! Time surely flies.)

The end goal of acceptance into medical school is usually on the forefront of my mind, yet I do not wish to slide into the cliché of missing out on college because of preoccupation on graduate schooling. Don't get me wrong, I want to study what I enjoy in college, I just want to do that while securing admission to med school.

And so I have landed in my current predicament. I, Megan, have the utmost desire to gain the best possible chance of attending the medical school of my dreams (cough Vanderbilt cough) yet I still want to have fun in college.

Oh what a dilemma it is! Did I mention I tend towards being overdramatic? No? Well, I am affronted by your lack of sensitivity to my personality.

See what I did there?