Watterson Towers Living

Watterson towers are the biggest dorms on Campus. They are also one of the tallest dorms in the word. As s resident of Watterson I took the Liberty of talking to a few other residents about how they like Watterson. I got some very good insight on what people liked and didn’t like about this residence hall. Although it seems like a great place to live there are some who disagree and do not like it. The people I have talked to have gone both ways on it and have stated many pros and cons to living in Watterson. They say that it being so large gives you a chance to meet more people and get involved with more things, but the size also can make some people too shy to really talk to anyone at all. It is also said that the dining center there is really good, but that after a while it gets a little repetitive. So I have come to learn that with so many people living there it also gives you more opinions and perspectives to explore and understand. So even though some people may like living in Watterson there are others who thought they would, but turns out that they don’t really like it at all.

ISU Festival

The festival on the quad last month really opened my eyes of how many groups, clubs, and organizations there are here at ISU. Anything that you can think of there probably is a club for it. If you can’t find a RSO that suits your style you can always make your own, which is a real easy process. You need at least five members to be in your organization, coordinate a faculty member to be your advisor, and create a constitution for your RSO to be official and you will well be on your way of having a new ISU organization.

Some of the clubs that were at the festival were The Hot Sauce club, The I love Taco’s club, and The Triathlon club. But one of the organizations that I am interested in joining is the Ultimate Frisbee team. I have always like playing Frisbee when I was a kid and plus I am good at catching so I think this club will be lots of fun for me. The bad news is that they have practice during my classes twice a week so I would only be able to go practice once a week.

It was fun going around the festival learning about all of the interesting groups and getting free stuff, which comes rarely to a college student. IT was really hot out that day, around 100 degrees, but a lot of people got free ice cream which was really cool. It was a fun adventure and I will definitely go next year.

Roommates

Some people like having roommates and other people do not. Then there are those that do not care if they have them or not. Some factors needed to get along with your Roommate(s) would be to set up rules that are to be followed by all that live there and that are made by everyone in there. This means that everyone has a say so in what goes into the rules. At ISU this is called the roommate bill of rights. These rules should allow you to have a more comfortable living environment at ISU. Although these rules are in place it may not be easy to transfer to living in such close quarters with another person(s). In my case all my friends are guys so going from that to living with three other females is quite a different situation. Having a roommate(s) can prove difficult if you do not have anything in common. This can be the case in a lot of situations. I talked to some people living in Watterson about their roommates and got some insight on just how difficult it can be. In the first situation two roommates did not get along with the third and had a lot of trouble trying to make peace with her. In the end she moved to a different room because she did not get along with her roommates. In the Second situation another two do not get along with their roommate because they cannot properly communicate with her. They try talking to her, but she does not listen to them. This shows that there can be many different problems in having roommates. On the plus side roommates can provide you with a friend(s) that could become like family from living with them.

So Far, So Good

Up to this point, my time here at college has been a unique experience. There has been so many adjustments that I have had to make that I wasn’t really expecting. However, one of the most influential things about your first year college experience is you’re roommate and I had quite an experience just to find my roommate in the first place. At first, I was a little cautious because I was supposed to room with one of my best friends from back home, but I was not able to because I didn’t get my housing information in on time. When I found that out, I was very nervous. At first, I was supposed to be in a quad with three other guys that I didn’t know for supplemental housing. Well, before that could even happen, I found out I got another new roommate. He was from Florida which seemed to be kind of cool. So just like any other kid would do these days, I looked him up instantly on Facebook. I typed in his full name, his hometown, everything… but had no luck. All I remember thinking to myself is, “I’m going to have a freak for a roommate. Awesome.”

As it turns out, he’s one of my new best friends. We get a long great and he’s a great guy. He’s also from the Philippines so he’s got a different perspective of things sometimes which makes our relationship that much better. All in all, it’s safe to say I lucked out.

Celebrities Are Just Like Us!

At Illinois State University we had a great privilege to have America Ferrera come and do a speech on diversity. I was so excited to see her and hear what she had to say on her life, how she ended up to where she is now, and how diversity plays an important role in her life. America began to discuss her dreams as a child to become an actress and how she would do whatever it took. She attended school like any other teenager and at the age of 18 was when she began to go to auditions. Acting was her passion but she also wanted to attend college to learn about fixing our environment which was her other passion in life. She began to explain how ignorant she felt not knowing all the issues going on in the world. She told us how one day she went to her professor’s office crying and told her professor that she feels she should give up her passion, which was acting, to become more involved in fixing the issues in our world. What her professor told her the characters she portrays in movies inspires people all over to make a difference in their own lives. Here at Illinois State I believe everyone has their own calling to make a difference in the world. By being apart of something can inspire others to want to make a difference in their own lives. America’s story inspires me to make a difference in my community.

Spread the Red at the Homecoming Game!

This weekend at ISU was full of excitement. There were many fun festivities going on to celebrate homecoming. I woke up early in the morning to attend the parade before the Football game on Saturday afternoon. The football game was a stadium full of students who greatly demonstrated Redbird Pride. If you went to the game against South Dakota State, “ISU TOUCHDOWN” was a phrase that you and I heard through the sound system very often! The fan section was a great place to be, full of students like me, who were eager to cheer their team to a victory. The student section is known as the Zoo section and you are only able to get a ticket into this section if you are a current ISU student. To get a good seat in the bleachers I was at the game about thirty minutes early, the section was packed full of students by the time the game started. After the first half of the game, most of the ISU fans knew that we were going to get a win for this game. The final score of the game was 28-3. After the game was over, because of the win, the whole crowd was glowing and screaming in celebration. High-fiving complete strangers to show how proud and excited we all were. The energy in the stadium is something you could only feel if you attended the game. I was so happy that I made the choice to attend the game. Although this was my first football game here at ISU it definitely won’t be my last.

Red Bird Pizza

On a late night in Normal, no matter what
I’ve been doing or who I was with, I always want to grab a beautiful slice of Red Bird Pizza. I walk into the establishment just west of southside right next to the freedom gas station, and
I see various students and sometimes family members. Usually there will be a
bit of the line, but boy that line moves fast, and before you know it there is
a huge slice of pizza right in front of your face. The piece is not only bigger
than my head, but its two times bigger, and I’m telling you my head is big, so equivalently
the piece must have been ginormous. Being a college student, I obviously
checked the price on the advertisement, but it came out to six dollars which I
was willing to spend to take a break from the cafeteria food. Not only was the
slice huge, but it was good, the cheese gave a familiar taste to a Chicago
native.