Experience Ball State: Student Bloggers

St. Patty's Day

ejmarty — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:47:00 GMT

Bonjour! No, I am not dead for those of you who may have been wondering (although at times these past few weeks, I feel like I've been living in a sub-Zombie state due to sleep deprevation.) Anyhow, I do realize that as I am writing this entry, there is only about 70 minutes left of St. Patrick's Day, but I thought that some of you might still be extending the celebration to this weekend. So, with that in mind, here are some hints (some serious and some goofy) that may help you break the monotony...(read more)

Scheduling Classes. . . What a Headache

jlbarnes2 — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:54:00 GMT

Well, I'm supposed to schedule my last fall semester of classes at Ball State this Monday, and so far it's giving me a headache. I know a week from now everything will work out, but it's the in-between time that's tough for people who tend to plan ahead (like me). Most departments haven't posted their course offerings yet, which means I still don't know which history course I'm going to take to finish my minor. I would like to take History 434: American Life and Thought, but who knows if it will...(read more)

Summer is set! Then real life happens — uh...yikes!

sncope — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:23:00 GMT

Well we're back from spring break. I enjoyed a nice week at home. I figured it was probably alright not going anywhere for break since I'll be in Florida all summer. And, to be honest, spring semester is the toughest for us out-of-staters because spring break is really the only opportunity to go home all semester. So I was definitely ready for a trip home. It was nice spending time with my family and puppy! :) I also had an opportunity to work on some things. One thing I really needed to look into...(read more)

Vila Fatima; One of Porto Alegre's [Former] Favelas

jlbarnes2 — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:04:00 GMT

I went on a site visit with my studio class today. This is the class where we'll be working in a more economically challenged neighborhood to try to raise the standard of living (that's my group above). Here is what we saw: The neighborhood is located near the top of a hill, so many places have great views of the city. Evidence of children and parents trying to protect their families. Beauty is in the details. Horses, motorcycles, cars, and pedestrians all share the streets. Most (all?) of the homes...(read more)

A Picture is worth a thousand words

lcdixon — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:35:00 GMT

...(read more)

Spring Break (and a few other things)

jahapp — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:35:00 GMT

So I'm on Spring Break right now. Have been for some time (and it has been SWEET!). Right now I'm just relaxing and looking for any opportunities for summer work. I need to earn money so I can give it to BSU. So an awesome event took place a week and a half ago (Saturday). The BSU Ski/Snowboard Club Rail Jam 2010 (Sponsored in part by Perfect North Slopes of Lawrenceburg, IN and Red Bull). I wanted to enter, I just didn't for some reason. But the event was pretty cool. Perfect North brought three...(read more)

Drugs

jlbarnes2 — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:09:00 GMT

I'm irritated. Perhaps enraged. Definitely pissed. My studio project here in Brazil is about how to increase the standard of living of people living in some of Brazil's favelas , or urban slum communities. To prepare, we're all researching various aspects of favelas and the people who live in them. As it turns out, the drug cartels basically rule the favelas, especially in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Maybe that's not very surprising. What is surprising is that these cartels have enough weapons,...(read more)

Spring Break

lcdixon — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:38:00 GMT

Spring break is upon us and I am staying at Ball State to try and make some extra money. Ball State is soooo dead right now. I miss all my friends already! I don't know how I am going to be able to handle graduation. The week after we get back from break we have nationals and then I will be done with debate forever. My heart breaks thinking about this...it's so sad...this weekend we had a Debate tournament Carrie and Elizabeth got 1st in varsity Ben and Joel got second and Kaytee and I got third....(read more)

Campus Food

jlbarnes2 — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:20:00 GMT

Here's a quick rundown of all the places to eat on campus, based entirely on my opinions and tastes in food (so, grain of salt and all that jazz). Campus food is generally good, though the different places vary. The best place to eat on campus is in Woodworth . They have the best salads (made to order and spun in front of you), plus they rotate Asian and Mexican food, both of which are made to order and very good. It just opened last year, so everything is new-- the seating is comfortable and fresh,...(read more)

First day of Class—or—I’m from Chicago, erm, I mean, Indiana

jlbarnes2 — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:38:00 GMT

So my classes here are a little different. For starters, I have each class only one day a week. That means that I won’t go to my Monday class until next Monday (classes began on Tuesday). That class will be from 2:00 until 5:00, three hours in one day. Isn’t that different? Today I had my first Portuguese as a Foreign Language class. It was pretty introductory—we introduced ourselves in Portuguese and took a brief tour of our enormous campus, just touching on the more important places. . . you know,...(read more)

Getting Used to a Foreign Country

jlbarnes2 — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:23:00 GMT

I've been here (in Brazil) for a few days now, but not quite a week. Still, I have a few things to say about Brazil. First, it's much different than most of the other countries I've been to. There are many people here from European decent, along with people of African, Asian, and Hispanic heritages. It's very eclectic as far as that goes and reminds me of larger cities in the United States. I actually blend in on the streets, something I've experienced in a foreign country only in England. It's also...(read more)

BIG NEWS!!!

lcdixon — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 07:35:00 GMT

Big news kids..I GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL!!!! I will be going to IL State in the fall! I will be teaching intro level classes while helping out with their debate team! Oh man who could have believed it!? I am so happy! My mom go my letter yesterday and read it to me over the phone! As excited as I am about that, this means that there are going to be a lot of changes happening very soon! It will be so hard leaving Ball State but I know it's the best thing for me to do. I love everyone here so much but...(read more)

Big fish get more opportunities like meeting Nightline's Ted Koppel

sncope — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:51:00 GMT

It's great being a big fish in a little pond. I'd say that's the big perk of going to Ball State, it's size. If I had gone to a larger school with thousands of kids in my major, I honestly don't think I would have ever had the opportunity that I had earlier this week. Ted Koppel, a well-known, well respected broadcast journalist (many of you may know him from his work on Nightline or currently as a news analyst for National Public Radio) visited and spoke at our campus on Tuesday and Wednesday. I...(read more)

I'm in Brazil!

jlbarnes2 — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:15:00 GMT

OK, now that I'm south of the equator, I know many of you are super curious about what's been going on. But first, I'll cut to the part I know you're ALL most interested in: DOES THE TOILET WATER SWIRL BACKWARDS????? Northern and Southern Hemisphere Toilets : View Video Format: wmv Duration: 00:21 Answer: Nope. Though Montevideo's toilet was much more suction-y. This is a big disappointment to me, as I'm sure it is to you. As it turns out, the whole thing about water swirling the other way has been...(read more)

Coffee

jlbarnes2 — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:50:00 GMT

This is in response to a comment from another post, which asked if there are any good coffee places in Muncie near campus. The answer? YES! As far as cafés ON campus go, there are two Starbucks available to students (as you might have expected). Personally, I'm not much of a Starbucks fan, so I go to the Bookmark Café in Bracken Library. I like their chai tea, and it's right in the library, which screams convenience. To add to that, students with meal plans (which includes everyone living in the...(read more)

How is College Different?

ejmarty — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:20:00 GMT

Bonjour! Sorry for keeping you waiting, and I also apologize for the lack of creativity within my title this week! I had a very good comment posted on one of my previous posts asking me to describe the differenes between high school and college, and I felt that it warranted a post of its own this week. So here are just a few of the differences, but keep in mind that the transition to college is different for everyone, so my perspective may not be able to speak for all of you. But so I shall try......(read more)

I want to be a My Little Pony.

pthompson2 — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:46:00 GMT

Today, I sit across a big gray table selling cupcakes, cookies, and snacks galore. I'm am a business woman supporting my heart, my soul, the animation club at Ball State. Business is booming. Puppy chow is selling hot cakes. I'm hyped up on Monster energy drink, so I have no idea what I am typing now. Pink elephants are awesome. See I told you. I have an animation project due at the end of the week, I have a building to build in ceramics, and a video art project. Some how my boyfriend is mixed in...(read more)

Jesse Jackson and Debate

lcdixon — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:19:00 GMT

Two weekends ago the debate team went to Dayton Ohio for a tournament. It went pretty well. My partner Kaytee and I got third place in varsity. Ball State over all won the tournament. We had a lot of really great new people who also did amazing, Austin Clifford and Lauren Henry were great and got second place in novice, and Lauren Harper and RJ Crace got third in crossfire. We had a lot of people take pretty highly when it came to speaker awards also. Jonathan Bryant took second place on speaker...(read more)

Things that Rock about College

jlbarnes2 — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:59:00 GMT

For one, you can listen to your friend DJ-ing one of the school's radio stations . That's right, I'm listening to my friend right now rocking out on the airwaves. I'm so excited for her-- she's always had an interest in music, but recently she's really been pursuing it and that pursuit has lead her to hosting/co-hosting two radio programs. Seriously, she's so inspiring. Kids, this is why college is awesome. And *maybe* I'm a little biased, but so far she rocks. She really knows her stuff. On other...(read more)

Weekly Rambles Part 1.

pthompson2 — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:56:00 GMT

This past valentines day, my man got me a necklace, a dozen roses (insert awww), and a box of chocolates (yes shaped liked a heart). It was the coolest thing ever. Like I said before, I got my man cologne and a bag of gourmet caramel corn. I've spent a good month researching the perfect cologne. The perfume/cologne lady kicked me out of Macy's because I wanted to smell all the cologne. He liked it, but he was more excited about the caramel corn. Figures. I suppose the best way to a man's heart is...(read more)

I'm sorry

lcdixon — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:44:00 GMT

I just received a comment on my last post dealing with how my writing is poor and that I need to proof read my blog post. I humbly accept this and acknowledge that I am horrible at spelling and grammar. When I first read this comment I was mad, then upset, then embarrassed, and finally at the point of understanding. When I was first asked to become a blogger I almost said no because I knew that my writing was not great. I knew that I would be showing all of you a side of me that I have tried to keep...(read more)

Facilitating at the "World's Best Design" competition

sncope — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:13:00 GMT

10,000 design entries judged in three days. So many great designs made it, but so many great ones didn't. If there's one thing I learned from helping with the judging of the Society for News Design's "World's Best Design" competition, it's that design is subjective. Yeah, I knew that going in, but it's not something you really think about or are even really 'taught.' There are certain principles that can be applied to determine if something is well-designed, but 85 percent of these competitions it's...(read more)

Grad school and writing comp

lcdixon — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:41:00 GMT

Hello all....my blog post for today is going to be complaining. I need to express some issues I have with Ball State and also the overall process of applying to any grad school. First let me talk about the writing comp. At Ball State when you reach 60 credit hours you are able to take this test that Ball State requires you to take before you can graduate. This is a writing test. You go in for about two hours and have to write about three pages on a random subject matter. Mostly it deals with something...(read more)

This is a chance for me to tell you how I feel about you

lcdixon — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:52:00 GMT

I write today about love because of course it is the day of love. But I am not writing for those who are in love, I am writing for those who love someone and are to afraid to take a chance. I write this after just watching last weeks Grey's Anatomy that I missed and one of the story lines was about a waiter who never told one of his customers how much he loved her. Within the show of course he is telling his feelings to one of the doctors thinking this women is a sleep but alas she is awake and hears...(read more)

Valentines Day Special!

jahapp — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:05:00 GMT

The fact that I'm a bad person is continuing to persist by my lack of blogging. I'm probably giving all 2 of my readers a bad impression of myself and Ball State. Dang. Well, I thought since today is such a special day (NOT!), I'd update you all with news of what's going on! If you haven't heard the news, there's a little epidemic of this 'snow' phenomenon. I heard that of all 50 U.S. states, only Hawaii hasn't gotten any form of snow. Dang holdouts... anyway! Little Muncie here got a bit more than...(read more)