- Freshman Move-In. Advice that might save your life...
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Good afternoon all!
Who’s excited for the weekend? I know that I am...yeah, absolutely, I can’t wait. I AM GOING TO A CUBS GAME TOMORROW!!! Whew, it felt good to get that off my chest. Not only is this a Friday game at Wrigley Field, but it’s against the division leading Brewers! And my seats are in the bleachers! Whoa!
I apologize, I’m not sure if you were ready for that level of excitement right from the start of this blog. It’s ok though, I’ve calmed down considerably over the course of the last few sentences and am ready to talk about what I sat down to write. Today’s topic is about freshman move-in. Those of you reading this who are coming to Ball State this year might, just might, if you’re very lucky, see me in person helping with move-in procedures in August. I am what is called a Welcome Week Leader, meaning that I help YOU move in to your dorm, get accustomed to Ball State, help show you around, answer questions you may have, and make sure you make it to all of you welcome week activities. I think I get to wear a really sharp looking red t-shirt that probably says “welcome week leader” on it.
Welcome Week is a really great time of year for you – you don’t have classes yet, you’re away from your parents for the first time in 18 years (I mean that in the most loving, “mom and dad I love you” way possible), and you get to meet tons of new people. It will be busy, for sure, but I would encourage you to do as much as you possibly can – take it all in! You will have lots of activities and group meetings that you have to go to. Many of your peers may tempt you to skip out of the festivities, but they don’t know what they’re missing. Believe me, the things that are planned for you your first week at school before classes start are beneficial and will help you immensely.
Another point I’d like to make is about freshman bringing too much stuff when they move in. Really, I don’t know if I can emphasize this enough – freshman bring probably about 70 to 80x more things than they really need to survive college. Girls bring all 50 pairs of shoes that they own (ridiculous, right?) and guys manage, somehow, to completely stuff their rooms with more random junk than I’ve ever seen. Take it from someone who has been there and done that, you don’t need to bring EVERYTHING from home. You don’t need to bring your ENTIRE wardrobe and you most certainly do not need to bring every random memento or precious keepsake that you’ve ever owned. You don’t have enough room first of all, you make move in day a hellacious experience second of all, you annoy the heck out of your roommate third of all, and there are more than enough places to get that kind of stuff at school fourth of all. Keep that in mind when you start shopping and packing up for this coming semester.
That’s all for now, I wish you all a happy Fourth of July!!!
GO CUBS!
- The HONORS COLLEGE. An experience worth checking out...
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Hello!!!
Good evening all, I write to you watching my team, the Chicago Cubs, attempting to win their fifth straight game. Preceding yesterday’s 6-2 win over Cleveland, the Cubs had three, let me repeat, THREE come from behind victories over their opponents, including one against their cross-town rival Whitesox. I am more excited than I have been in months, in large part because the Cubbies are finally winning. Readers, my mood is directly correlated with the success of the Chicago Cubs. Lucky for you, they have won the last few days, meaning that today’s conversation about the HONORS COLLEGE should be exciting, insightful, and otherwise brilliantly written.
Ball State has a number of colleges within the University; for example, the Teacher’s College or the College of Architecture and Planning. The Honors College is another College at Ball State, one that I am a part of and one that offers some unique opportunities for students. The Ball State Honors College is an opportunity for you to “put your talents and curiosity to the test”, “challenge your intellect”, and “improve your education”. The Ball State Honors College has its own curriculum, one that coincides with the general Ball State curriculum and provides the same “type” of courses as normal students. The difference lies in the fact that classes are much smaller, syllabi are discussion based, and you are surrounded by students dedicated to enhancing their education at a higher level.
Of the Honors courses I have taken over the last three years, my largest class could have been no bigger than 15 or 20 students – a drastic difference from the 150-200 person lectures almost all students experience in other general education/core curriculum classes. Not only that, but the professors are invested in their students – they work with you more personally because of the smaller class setting and take a much more avid interest in your success and, more importantly, your development as a student and individual.
Don’t get me wrong, it sounds somewhat intimidating. I know, smaller classes, smarter kids, and more interested professors only means one thing…more work! WRONG! If this is your thought process, you are going about it in the completely wrong way. The Honors college may have a few extra hours of reading or preparation here or there, but the feeling of actually getting something out of the class is well worth it. Not only that, but you will be assigned an advisor within the college who will help schedule classes and lead you through your four years at Ball State (this is a HUGE advantage as a freshman).
Also, freshman in the Honors College undergo an eight week, one credit hour course, their first semester on campus. This class, Honors 100, is taught by an upperclassman in the Honors College; for example, myself. We are called Honors College Peer Mentors, and for eight weeks, I will lead a class that meets for 45 minutes a week going over college life at Ball State. Where things are, problems you will run into, answering questions you may have, and anything else you can think of, is what this class aims to address. I am here to help get YOU acclimated to life at Ball State.
Obviously this is a lot of information, so here is the link to the Honors College on Ball State’s website…
http://cms.bsu.edu/Academics/CollegesandDepartments/HonorsCollege.aspx
If you have questions, check the site. If you still have questions, fire them my way. I hope this helps – what I really want to say is, if you have the opportunity to, JOIN THE HONORS COLLEGE – IT IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY.
Thanks all, see you next time!
Go Cubs.
- My Summer Internship. Excitement, Despair, More Excitement.
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Good afternoon everyone.
This past week was definitely frustrating for me. It was my fourth full week working at my summer job and it threw some curveballs my way that I wasn’t particularly ready for. I am an intern at an architecture firm here in Fort Wayne, something that I am very excited about. As an aspiring architect, I need to complete a certain number of hours in different focus areas in order to become certified as an architect. This process is standardized nationally and typically takes 3-5 years AFTER completion of school to finish. The fun part is, after your third year in school, you can begin accumulating these hours to put towards your certification. The not so fun part is, since the economy is less-than-superb, everyone is looking for jobs right now when there are almost no jobs to be had.
I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity for internship at a firm in my home town of Fort Wayne and have been working there since I got home from school for the summer. It has been a TREMENDOUS experience so far, one that I value very highly. As an intern, I am involved in doing almost anything and everything, literally. That includes many of the “undesirable” jobs in the office but also includes several pretty exciting things as well. Visits to job sites, client meetings, staff meetings, and general interaction within a real, working, functioning, successful architecture firm is awesome.
Up to this past week of the summer, I have been working on transferring old blueprints from a high school into AutoCAD (an architecture drafting program) for use on the project. After spending nearly 85 hours of work on this task, my worst nightmare occurred. One of the partners in the firm came up to me and said, “Mike, those blueprints aren’t for the right high school”. OOPS!! Frustration doesn’t even BEGIN to describe my feelings at that moment. How could I somehow be working on something for nearly 3 weeks and it not even be the right high school!!! I mean, not that it surprised me that much, really. I should have assumed that these misfortunes would find me at some point or another over the course of the summer. Thankfully though, it wasn’t my fault; it wasn’t anyone’s fault really, just a huge and terribly disastrous miscommunication. I spent almost the entire next day driving to the location where I could find the blueprints we really did need, looking for them amidst hundreds of archived materials with no humanly recognizable organizational system, and failing to find what I needed. AAAAAHHHH! Yup, not the best week for me at the office.
That being said, after a little reflection time over the weekend, I really don’t regret it at all. Not only am I now a master at AutoCAD, but I learned a lot in the process (even though it wasn’t the right process). Also, this little mishap of mine is giving me the chance to learn a completely new program for the same project the second time around which is REALLY EXCITING (hopefully we get it right this time). As I said earlier, I am very fortunate and consider myself lucky for having a job at all, much less an internship at a very well-respected architecture firm.
Another positive is that this firm is located in downtown Fort Wayne, which is ALSO the location of our new minor league, relocated, awesomely named baseball team, the Fort Wayne TIN CAPS!! The stadium is absolutely terrific, I can assure you, and makes working downtown that much better.
Hope all is well, talk to you next time.
- Hey Hey Hey!! I'm Back!!
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I’M BACK!!!
Hello, hello,
Fellow students, potential students, parents of potential students, and any others who may be reading this, welcome to my blog! It has been a while since my last post…quite a while in fact. I feel that, at this point in my blogging career, it might benefit me to re-introduce myself, as I haven't really blogged in forever and as I will now be blogging VERY frequently over the summer.
My name is Michael Bernard Niezer and I hail from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Just a few weeks ago, I finished my junior year at Ball State. I am an Architecture Major and am also minoring in Historic Preservation. My involvement at Ball State includes being a member of the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta, a member of Cardinal Corps (student ambassadors for the University), and a member of the Honors College, among other things.
So my job is to share my experiences at Ball State in the hopes that you, whoever you are, are better informed about this University. Since Ball State has done so much for me in the past three years, I’m going to do all I can to make sure you know my experience. It must be tough to tell what a person is like from a few words posted each week, but I’m going to try, and hopefully you get something out of it.
And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, our first topic of the summer!! Today’s topic is…SUMMER SCHOOL!!!
Yeeeeeeessssss, just what we all want! The school ends for the year, and what are we going to do??!! That’s right, we’re going to talk about school some more. Now that it is summer, most people have either gone home to other things or stayed in Muncie to take classes. I was fortunate enough to experience the latter of the two last summer. Since I’m minoring in Historic Preservation, that means I’m taking 18 additional credit hours on top of my workload for Architecture. When I started, this meant that, in order to avoid being stuck in Muncie for an extra year, I had to take a few hours over the course of a summer to get a step ahead.
Summer classes at Ball State were, for me, a pretty good time. It was work, yes, but not nearly as intensive as school during the regular year. This isn’t entirely because it’s not as many hours of work – in fact, depending on how ambitious you are, you can take up to 12 hours of classes in a short, 10 week period of time. That being said, the classes are much smaller, and not as many other things are going on outside of class, allowing much more time to focus on class. Smaller classes also mean more attention from professors, which is always a good thing.
What I’m trying to say is, if you want to pick up a minor in another subject but don’t have the time or ability during the school year, you can do it over the summer! It costs money, sure, but it’s for continuing education (such a noble cause), it’s in Muncie which is surprisingly pleasant during the summer, and chances are, you’ll have friends who are there also. And even though the residence halls aren’t open over the summer, there are PLENTY of places to stay near campus that are cheap and easy to lease. Overall, summer school is worthwhile and really, it’s a pretty fun time too.
Hope all is well and please stay in touch as I will be blogging every week or two. As always, feel free to shoot any questions you have in my direction. The list below is a few topics I am considering touching on yet this summer. If you’d like me to speak about something not on the list, let me know!!
Fraternity Life
Internships
Preparing for Graduate School
Freshman Move-In Week
Ball State Athletics
Freshman Pitfalls
Travelling Abroad
Architecture
The Chicago Cubs being destined to win the World Series this year
Hope everyone has a great week!!!
- Spring Break 09 Baby!
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Hello!
Ah, spring break is nearly here. Today marks the one week of second semester that we can leave the intrigue of education and enjoy the benefits of time well spent in an exotic location. Spring Break at Ball State, or at any University for that matter, typically consists of students fleeing towards warmer climates in southern locations. Although it falls fairly early in the semester, I would say by the excitement and general mood of students on campus that Spring Break couldn’t come at a better time.
Strangely enough, I’m taking the alternative method for Spring Break and going home. Even though the “fun” aspect of Spring Break on a beach is appealing, I decided that my time (and money) would be better spent in luxurious Fort Wayne, Indiana. I’m taking the next week to develop my portfolio, begin searching for Graduate Schools, and interview for summer internships. I’ll be busy, but I think it will be nice to take a week off. It will be refreshing to take a few days away from the responsibilities that come with architecture and my Fraternity.
The only downside of Spring Break year after year is that the week PRIOR tends to be fairly insane. Project deadlines, tests, papers, and meetings are crammed into just five short days before break. You’d think I would have more foresight and plan to compensate for this overload in advance. Nope. It never happens. Oh well, the week is almost over and then I’ll be good. Have a great spring break everyone!
- It's that time again - design competition season for CAP students!
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Good Morning!
Welcome back to my blog. I’d like to apologize, again, for my severe lack of blogging over the past month or so. Good news is, those days are in the past and NOW I’m here to talk a little bit about architecture.
This past Monday, March 2 marked the introduction of the 2009 Gresham Smith Design Competition. This competition is for all third year students in the College of Architecture and Planning and will take us through the remaining two months of the semester. Gresham Smith and Partners is a Nashville based multi-disciplinary architecture firm and is sponsoring the project. The primary objectives of the competition are to provide third year students with…
“a comprehensive studio project that will furnish a learning experience and demonstrate ability in conceptualization, development, and communication of an architectural design project”
With the project statement being fifteen pages in length, I’m not going to delve into the minutia of details in the project. I will, however, tell you the basics. This year’s Gresham Smith Design Competition is the design of a new Multicultural Center for Ball State. The site is located at the corner of McKinley Avenue and University Avenue (by the village and campus bookstores for those of you who have visited Ball State). Our current Multicultural Center at Ball State is located in a renovated residential house, just off campus, and serves thousands of students each year. At its best, it aims to bring together diverse populations and to provide cross-cultural educational, artistic, social, and technological initiatives.
The objective of the competition is to propose a new, visible, viable, and permanent location for Ball State’s Multicultural Center. Included in the program are project descriptions, requirements, restrictions, allowances, and additional information crucial to the development of this project.
EXCITING! Right? Of course it’s exciting. Ball State is special because it provides competitions like this for second, third, and fourth year architecture students. Each year, second year students compete in the ICMA (Indiana Concrete Masonry Association) Competition, third year students compete in the Gresham Smith Design Competition, and fourth year students compete in the Cripe Competition.
I’m not sure if other architecture programs at other universities do similar competitions, but they are absolutely fantastic opportunities and provide invaluable learning experiences. Furthermore, at the conclusion of the project, the jury will be awarding $4,000 to the winners of the competition. Since there is a monetary incentive, students (myself included) push themselves extra hard for a 2+ month time span to produce the best possible solution to the project. Some of the best work I have done in studio is from the ICMA Competition last year and what I am anticipating on producing this year with Gresham Smith. If nothing else, these competitions allow you to produce great work to include on resumes and portfolios for future graduate school, internship, and job opportunities.
Questions? Comments? Hit me with your best shot. Gresham Smith will be the focus of my attention for the remainder of the school year – I am more than happy to answer questions you may have!
- Go Ahead and Get Involved! Time Management 101
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Good Morning,
As I had anticipated, this semester is extremely difficult for me. Six classes throughout the course of the week, all in the same concentration, can be overwhelming (especially for architecture majors). If you are involved in anything outside of class, that makes things even worse. Personal time outside of class and other involvements is something else. That’s not to mention the constant and ever-present thought of the future and what it has to bring – graduate school, money, jobs, etc.
Ladies and gentlemen, college is a juggling act and it is not easy, not by any means. The funny thing is, regardless of how much I get involved in, how much sleep I end up not getting, and how overwhelmed I feel at times, I will be the first person to tell you to go ahead and do it. Go ahead and get involved. Go ahead and sacrifice your personal relaxation for something difficult and time consuming. Go ahead and test your limits and your boundaries. Go ahead and be proactive about issues that you believe in. Go ahead and do it, because, in the end, it will pay off.
Alright, so you get involved and you put forth the effort and guess what, you feel overwhelmed and miserable. That is, unless you learn to manage your time in an efficient and organized manner. It is a learning process, believe me, but once you find a system that works for you, you can do nearly anything you want. It always amazes me how much the human being can take on and still perform at levels above and beyond what others expect.
If and when you decide to come to Ball State, remember that managing your time will become your greatest difficulty. I could try and talk about ways to manage your time, but, in reality, everyone handles time management issues differently. My challenge is if, and when, you come to Ball State, to challenge yourself and push yourself to limits that you thought were unachievable. The happiest, most successful, and most efficient people at Ball State are those people who are involved. Personally, and oddly enough, my highest GPA so far at Ball State was also the same semester that I was involved in almost more than I care to think about right now. Get involved and then figure out how to manage your time and efforts. Prioritizing and figuring out what’s important is key. Once you figure that out, you will surprise yourself with what you’ll accomplish – I guarantee it.
I DID in fact do a video tour of my house, but then the battery for the video recorder ran out and I realized that I had “temporarily misplaced” the charger. Oops. I am currently searching for the charger but have a feeling I’m going to end up going to Best Buy and purchasing a new one. Until then, hang tight, and I’ll get you that video ASAP. Have a great week everyone!
- Let's Get Motivated!!!
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Planet Earth,
Hello! I trust you have all had tremendous Christmas Breaks and are energized and rejuvenated for what promises to be an exciting 2009! I apologize for my lack of blogging; I got caught up with some things over break and lost track of time. But GUESS WHAT! I’ll tell you what – I got a mini refrigerator from Santa! Do you all know what this means? I’ll tell you what it means – I now have a permanent refrigerator for studio and a means to keep food and beverages cold and delicious. Excellent.
In regards to this upcoming semester, I am very excited. Granted, I am a fairly easy person to excite, but I am VERY excited about what’s ahead. All six of my classes are located in the Architecture building, which keeps things easy and also allows me to have a steady flow of food from my new refrigerator. Things with the Fraternity are looking up (stay tuned to hear more on this topic in future weeks), I like my professors thus far, I started running again, and the Cubs made some significant trades that will make a tremendous impact on their success this coming year.
I’ll be honest; motivation is hard to come by this time of year. Weather is cold, dreary, and bleak. Students are returning to classes and realizing that it’s time to end the lazy lifestyle they have become accustomed to. In general and to the typical student, this is not a pleasant time of year. Instead of being a downer on life, I choose to be more optimistic about the next coming months. In fact, people know me as the guy who usually gets motivated about things that really don't even need motivation for...like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or microwaving my hot cocoa to the perfect temperature (2:39 in the microwave in my room to be exact). In all seriousness though, we all have a tremendous opportunity to begin anew, start fresh, and change our ways to become better. I charge you to try out that mindset and see what happens! My next blog is going to be about Greek Life, specifically, life at the FIJI house at Ball State. Get ready for it! Until then, have a spectacular week and I’ll talk to you next time. And remember, GET MOTIVATED!
- Students vs. Parents – the predicament and solution
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Fine People,
Welcome back to my blog! I want to first apologize for my severe lack of correspondence with you over the last several weeks. These last few weeks have truly tested my time management and organizational skills and, unfortunately, in the process I did not have the opportunity to blog as often as I would have liked. However, finals week is now upon us, meaning that, as an architecture major, I have relatively little to do because all of my projects are finished.
You all know about finals. No matter what I tell you, everyone will study and prepare for finals in whatever way they find most effective. In brief, finals week at Ball State is the last week of the semester. As far as I know, professors are not required to give a final exam. For example, I only have one final this week and it isn’t even comprehensive. I also have a paper to complete, but besides those two things, my week is fairly empty. That being said, I have several fraternity brothers that have upwards of five finals to take this week – the difficulty of finals week all depends on your professors and what courses you are taking. So instead of talking about something that you have all experienced and, I would guess, don’t want to experience in the future, I’m going to focus on an issue that I found extremely difficult to handle my freshman and sophomore years at Ball State – How to go home and live with your parents.
Christmas Break is quickly approaching, meaning that thousands of college students will be flocking home to the comfort, relaxation, and tranquility of home. DON’T BE SO SURE! Going home and trying to re-adjust to life as it was before college is a shock. Rules, restrictions, confrontations, differences of opinions, changes in personality, etc., are all problems that you will most likely face upon returning home the first couple times after being away. Personally, I thought going home would be fantastic. A comfortable bed, great food, and no homework would be awesome! Ha! Boy was I wrong. Instead of getting a much needed break from the rigors of architecture all-nighters and endless amounts of stress, I found myself in a continuous battle with both of my parents.
After thinking about why this confrontation occurs (and I’m not the only one with this problem, everyone experiences it in some way or another), I realized that it isn’t anyone’s fault. Both the child and the parent have an equal responsibility in the relationship over breaks from school.
Students: When you go home for break, realize that your parents aren’t used to having you home. Therefore, their first instinct is to revert back to how they treated you before you left for college. Also realize that they aren’t used to the kind of person that you have become. You have spent an ample amount of time on your own, experiencing new things, gaining new perspectives and ideas, and testing your boundaries as an individual. This might be a shock to them when you return. Chores and responsibilities that they have you do, no matter how tedious or unfair it may seem, isn’t asking too much. Students, you must realize that when you return home, you are living with other people besides yourself and must, therefore, be considerate and thoughtful about how your actions, or lack thereof, affect them (something you have not had to do in a long while).
Parents: Give your kids a break! College life for some students, regardless of what you might think, is HARD work. Be understanding and realize that your child needs a break – college is stressful enough as it is, there is no need to make things more stressful at home. Parents, please understand that your child has been on his or her own for quite a while – they aren’t used to listening to someone tell them what to do. It shouldn’t be a surprise that, when you start mandating rules and restrictions, your child rebels, because they have learned to live without that authority figure in their life.
Lesson of the story, parents and students alike, try and understand where each other are coming from. It took me two years to figure out why my parents and I couldn’t get along when we were living together over Christmas and Summer break, don’t let it happen to you! This blog isn’t necessarily specific to Ball State but it IS useful information when you go to college, whichever school you may choose. To make up for my disappointing amount of blogs these last few weeks, I’m kicking things into high gear. Expect another blog AND coveted video documentation about what life in studio is like for an architecture major at Ball State in the next couple days. Until then, good luck with finals!
- "Greek Life: More than the stereotypes!" - Part One
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I am a member of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, also known as FIJI, at Ball State University. I joined this great organization my freshman year and am confident in saying that it has been the best decision I have made here at Ball State. I know, that’s a pretty bold statement, right? No matter, I mean every word of it and feel compelled to share my experiences with you.
Talking about Greek Life to others, especially those who have never experienced it, is challenging. I am sure you all have your own opinion of what Greek Life is – what we do, how we act, and why we exist. More often than not, incoming freshman come to Ball State with a definite stance on Fraternities and Sororities, and more often than not, that definite stance is a negative one. “I’m not going to go Greek because I don’t buy my friends”. “I’m not going to go Greek because I have values”. “I’m not going to go Greek because they’re a bunch of alcoholics who only care about partying”. Sound familiar? The list of negative associations with Greeks is endless. Personally, I take offense to every single one of these claims.
Leadership, friendship, service, involvement, and preparation for life after college are only a few benefits of being in a Fraternity or Sorority at Ball State. I’m not going to delve into the benefits I have received as a FIJI these last two and a half years – that’s another blog for another time. What I am going to talk to you about is the Greek system in general at Ball State. You have to start somewhere!
Ball State has both Fraternities (men) and Sororities (women) that play an active role in campus life. Currently, there are 11 Fraternities and 11 Sororities on campus, all of which contribute in their own way. Each Fraternity or Sorority is referred to as a single chapter, meaning that there are other like chapters at other Universities across the country. For instance, the Phi Gamma Delta chapter at Ball State is one of over 100 Phi Gamma Delta chapters internationally at other Universities. Over the last two and a half years, I have become completely immersed in Greek Life. Starting as just a member of my own chapter, I have progressed into a prominent leadership role within FIJI and have become heavily involved in the Greek Community as a whole.
Whether it is service, campus involvement, athletics, or academics, each chapter at Ball State impacts the University as a whole. At our best, we promote behaviors that enable our members to be productive students and opportunities that allow them to make lasting impacts on campus and the surrounding community. At this point, I realize that it’s a lot to take in. Believe me, when I was a freshman I had absolutely no idea what Greek Life even meant. This is the first of what I am expecting to be several blogs about Greek Life – my experiences, living, and opportunities are all topics of discussion that I feel you need to know about. I believe in what being Greek is all about and can hopefully share that belief with you all in the near future. As always, and now more than ever, if you have questions PLEASE let me know. If I am passionate about anything, my affiliation with a Fraternity is it. Until next time!
The Official Greek Life Logo of Ball State University
The Panhellenic Council Executive Board (sorority governing body). Stunning.
At the house after our newest pledge class pinning!
- Getting Around Campus: An Insider View on the Secrets of Campus Travel
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My bike has been my best friend and my worst enemy for the last two and a half years at Ball State. It has been with me through thick and thin, good times and bad, taken me great distances, and saved me hours of time. It has also been the cause of several wipe-outs (almost always paired with extreme embarrassment and humiliation), a concussion a week before a major architecture project was due, and common dislike among pedestrian walkers on campus. Regardless, it is the means of transportation I have chosen to take and I am sticking with it.
Ball State is not like other large Universities where getting from one place to the next is almost impossible. Wherever you need to go and whatever means of getting around you choose to take typically is no problem. Campus itself is very compact and nearly all University Buildings are organized along two main streets through campus; McKinley and Riverside Avenue. The best part is you aren’t restricted to one means of transportation. For instance, if you do not have a car, there are other ways for you to get around…
Walking: Getting from one corner of campus to the next, on foot, will take you no longer than 20 minutes. Unlike the rest of Muncie, where sidewalks and streets are notorious for potholes and uneven surfaces, the sidewalks of campus are spacious and smooth. Walking is, without question, the most popular means of transportation on campus. Even if you live off campus, walking is still entirely feasible.
Bike Riding: For some reason, bike riders on campus are viewed as reckless hooligans with impaired judgment that endanger the safety of others. Ok, perhaps I perpetuate that stereotype when I ride through campus at the speed of light (exaggeration?), but not everyone who owns a bike rides like me. Bike riding through campus is a great way to get around as long as you are safe! With so many people walking on sidewalks, it can get dangerous. Riding on the street is a viable option except there are no bike lanes. There are ample numbers of bike racks on campus and even bike lockers for students who live in residence halls.
BSU Shuttle Service: There is a free shuttle service for students that runs through campus Monday through Friday. If you don’t feel like walking from one end of campus to the next, you can hop on a shuttle. These come every five minutes or so and are extremely popular during the winter.
The MITS: The Muncie Indiana Transit System (MITS) also runs through campus and is free for students. However, the MITS also services all other areas of Muncie like downtown and Walmart.
Car: Bringing a car to school for the sole purpose of getting around campus is probably not the best choice. Maybe I’m bitter because I personally don’t have a car (Mom and Dad, this is me asking you to help me out) but in actuality, you don’t need one. Sure, it would be nice on occasion, but in terms of truly and actually needing a car; it isn’t necessary. Parking services at Ball State is unanimously referred to by students as the most despised organization on campus; and actually finding a spot on campus during the day where you can park without getting fined or ticketed is difficult. I’m not saying not to bring a car, because most people have them and use them – all I’m saying is that getting around campus is completely doable without the aid of a one.
Hopefully this helps you understand what it’s like getting around campus. Really, getting around isn’t an issue. I don’t have a car, I live off campus, and I have no problem getting from place to place. If you have any questions let me know! Have a great week everyone, I’ll see you next time.
- Schedules and Body Paint...
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Excellent people,
Good afternoon and welcome back! I trust you have all been enjoying yourself in my absence and are ecstatic to see that I’ve returned (wishful thinking?). To put your minds at ease, I made it through what was, up to this point in the year, my most demanding week yet. I am now caught up on sleep, no longer feeling the after-effects of countless pots of coffee, and rejuvenated for the coming week.
Believe it or not, it is already time to begin scheduling classes for next semester at Ball State. Confusion, chaos, and anarchy (perhaps a little extreme) are descriptions of what scheduling tends to entail at this time of year. I’m here to tell you that it is NOT as difficult as you may imagine it might be. The scheduling system at Ball State is straightforward and easy to use; that is, once you know what you are doing. Stay with me, I will try my best to make sense of this. You will be using a personalized Degree Analysis Progress Report (DAPR) that will essentially guide you through the entire process of classes you need, credits you’ve earned, and other information regarding your academic standing at Ball State. Students can get current, up to date DAPRs whenever needed at the Ball State University website. After reviewing your DAPR and finding out what classes you need to take, you can navigate through a course shopping cart on the website to find out what classes are available to take. This is the step where you coordinate the time and day of different classes available. After reviewing different courses you would like to take, you can request those courses at the third step; the course request. After requesting your classes, you are good to go for the next semester, easy as that.
I realize that the process sounds somewhat intimidating but, in actuality, it is very user-friendly. Furthermore, all students at Ball State have an advisor that they can and should utilize for help with scheduling. I have used my advisor several times, especially as a freshman when I was still learning, to my advantage, and it has helped tremendously. To give you a taste of what a college schedule might look like (especially for you prospective architecture majors), here is my tentative schedule for the Spring of 2009.
Monday:
Tuesday:
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9:30-10:45 Structures II 3 credit hours
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11:00-12:15 Architecture History II 3 credit hours
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1:00-2:50 Historic Preservation Law and Planning 2 credit hours
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6:30-8:20 Economics of Historic Preservation 2 credit hours
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
18 credit hours total
The above schedule won't be easy, but it is doable. Keep in mind that I am minoring in Historic Preservation as well as majoring in architecture, so I have a significantly heavier workload than the majority of general architecture majors. And again, using resources on campus (and there are many) to help figure out schedules makes things very easy.
Before wrapping up today's post, I have a piece of advice for all those reading - never go to a football game in the middle of October without a shirt on. Take it from me, it isn't as fun as you would think. I made the mistake of painting myself for the football game this weekend in support of our undefeated Cardinals. Fortunately, we won. Unfortunately, it took me the rest of the weekend to regain feeling in the upper extremeties of my body. In hindsight, this was not one of my greatest ideas; in fact, it may have been one of my worst (my life is the ultimate learning experience). However, we won and are now ranked 16th in the BCS poll - how exciting is that?! Get excited, America, Ball State is still undefeated and going strong!
Myself, my sidekick Eric Maroun, and Charles...Charlie Cardinal that is.
As you can imagine, the two of us were pretty popular around the tailgating fields before the game...as seen in this picture.
- Stop. Relax. Get Back to Work.
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Good morning,
This week has been busy for me. Projects, meetings, papers, and exams have been the story of my life for the last several days. What makes things worse is knowing that next week is going to be even worse – and there’s nothing I can do about it. Realistically speaking, next week has the potential to destroy me.
Life can get pretty stressful when you wake up at eight o’clock each morning and don’t get back to your house until one or two at night because you’ve been drowned in schoolwork. I’m not saying this to discourage you – I’m saying this because I want to stress the importance of a balanced lifestyle in college. Working all day into the night, catching a few hours of sleep, and then getting up to do it all over again is not a healthy lifestyle. Believe me when I say it is still something I struggle with.
Balancing the hundreds of things you may have going on during any given day is not easy. It is something that I will most definitely be talking about more this year. All I want to say today is that regardless of how much you think you are helping yourself by working nonstop, sometimes you are not. Being concerned about your schoolwork and the advancement of yourself is one thing; being overly obsessive about it is completely different.
Last night I just stopped – I stopped thinking about school and projects and meetings and papers and exams and I just stopped. I took some personal time and enjoyed myself for a few precious hours on a Wednesday night. This morning, I feel excited to get back to work and finish what I started. It is OK to take time for yourself, really. Sometimes, in order to stay motivated and focused on what you need to get done, taking some time away from it is the best thing.
- Good, Tasty, Stomach-Filling Morsels of Greatness...Food
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Fine People,
Hello and welcome back to my blog! I trust you have been having an excellent time since my last post and are ready for what’s next. This week I want to talk about food services at Ball State. As an incoming freshman, or a parent of an incoming freshman, I would imagine that you may have some concerns about food. To put your minds at ease, food services at Ball State are great. Granted, I’m not the healthiest person out there (late night Taco Bell runs and frequent visits to the vending machine in the Architecture Building are commonplace…sorry mom), but food is definitely not something to worry about.
How the meal plan system works at Ball State is tricky – I don’t think I’m even going to attempt to explain it in depth to you. However, the basics are as follows. As an incoming freshman, you will be on a meal plan that corresponds to how many meals you think you will eat each week (21, 18, or 14). You will also have your Ball State student I.D. which can be used to purchase those meals at any food location on Ball State’s campus. Furthermore, you will have an extra reserve of money on your plan that allows you to buy food between meals.
As far as quality of food goes, I can’t complain. In fact, now that I live off campus and don’t have a meal plan, I crave for the goodness of campus food on a regular basis. Currently, I have to make my own food; which, although it might be funny to watch, isn’t anything spectacular. There are plenty of places to go on campus for food, each offering something different. Any given place on campus is guaranteed to have at least one nearby location that serves food and that food never disappoints.
I’m going to be honest – some of the food served at these locations isn’t the healthiest. Pizza, grilled ham and cheese, chips, pop, and candy are probably not the healthiest choices of food. However, unhealthy (although good tasting) foods are not the only option! Most places on campus serve actual food that actually tastes good! You know, like omelets for breakfast or grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and a vegetable for dinner. As a freshman and still as a junior, I nearly always succumb to the unhealthy alternative, but you don’t have to! All in all, Ball State has good food that is good for you, end of story.
On a completely different and unrelated note, I went shopping at Walmart the other night and bought several boxes of my new favorite food – Whales. Exactly like Goldfish but better tasting, cheaper, and a much cooler name. They even have trivia and mazes on the back of the box! Try them sometime; it will revolutionize the way you think about snack food. Also, BSU Football is still undefeated, get excited!!! Have a great week America and I’ll see you next time.
Invest in this tasty delicacy. It won't disappoint.
- My New Straw Hat
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome back to the second blog of what promises to be a very intriguing year. I apologize for not posting sooner, but for the last week I have been somewhat preoccupied. You might be asking yourself, “self, what could Mike possibly have been preoccupied with?” Well, fine people, for the last week I have been in San Francisco! That’s right, I have been basking in the majesty and glory of arguably the most incredible city I have ever had the privilege of visiting.
Ball State’s College of Architecture and Planning (CAP) is unique in that each year the entire college cancels classes for a week and goes to various locations across the United States and Canada. This highly anticipated time of year is referred to as “Field Trip Week” and, in my opinion, is a fantastic component of this program. Architecture programs across the country vary greatly – each offers different opportunities and experiences. I have not yet heard of a program that dedicates an entire week, during the academic year, for students to experience distinguished Architecture firsthand and gain a better understanding of different cultures across the country. Freshman year, we visited Chicago. Sophomore year, we travelled to Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. This year, I spent an entire week in San Francisco, experiencing some of the most richly diverse Architecture I have ever seen. Other students in the College travelled to Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Milwaukee, among others.
These trips not only give us students a break from the typical college routine, but offer tremendous opportunities to learn and bring back knowledge to further enhance and diversify our experience at Ball State. The trip itself was wonderful. I saw some of the most progressive Architecture being designed today and was able to visit several firms that have a prominent impact on the Architectural integrity of the city. Furthermore, I bought a straw hat fedora that could quite possibly transform me into the most popular student at Ball State within minutes of wearing it through campus…or perhaps into an old man…one or the other.
My point of sharing this trip is to give you some insight into Ball State’s College of Architecture and Planning. I am more convinced, after every semester and after every field trip week, that Ball State’s CAP program has A LOT to offer; more so than anyone could understand unless experiencing it in person. I have photos out the yin yang from this trip, but am having problems posting them to the website. Hang in there, the problem will soon be solved.
On a separate note, I would like to mention that Ball State’s football team is currently ranked 25th in the country. Never thought I’d see the day, but now that it’s here, it’s pretty exciting. Go Cards and be looking for my next blog. Until then, have a pleasant week!
On top of Lombard Street, looking out across San Francisco.
The Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland. Designed by Ball State University Graduate, Craig Hartman.
Giants vs. Dodgers.