I <3 the new Markin Center!

Hey!

So the Markin Center just opened on Thursday, and I’ve been there at least three or four times already. I love going there! I don’t even know where people went to work out before, because I see so many people there working out all the time when I’m there. I think it’s so great that we have this new place because it’s a great place students can go to destress, workout, and stay healthy and fit. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bradley’s student body didn’t all get a little healthier and leaner because of this new workout center. I could go on and on about this place because I’m so excited to have a fun place to work out now — before, I still worked out often, but it wasn’t very fun because all the places to work out weren’t that big or didn’t have very good equiptment, but the Markin Center obviously has all brand new, shiny equiptment, three basketball courts (to play volleyball too) an indoor soccer field, two racquetball rooms, a group workout room, a spinning room, a rock climbing wall, a free weights section, a weight machine section, a pool, a cardio section, another gym with a basketball court, an indoor track, and.. I’m probably forgetting a couple things. So basically, it’s amazing! And for once I’m actually excited to go work out because so many people go there and it’s kind of like a fun social thing to do now, which is great to see that it’s encouraging  healthy habits.

I’m actually really excited to go work out later. Since when do people actually get excited to exercise? I guess I do now, this is weird, but good! And it’s nice to have our club volleyball team practice in there instead of the older gym. I can’t believe I’m still this excited about it and I’ve gone there a few times already. 

yayyy for excercise!

- Kristin

Gideon Yago comes to campus!

Hey!

I’m still SOO ecstatic about meeting with Gideon this morning! He was the lecturer for this year’s fall Robison Lecture last night, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. He was so intriguing while also being hilarious and able to relate to the students and talk on their level. Gideon talked about how he got started as a journalist, about the youth voters in the past and present, about the media and its effect on the campaigns and on the voting process, and more. The lecture focused more on the presidential election coming up, but he also branched off into talking about the media and their impact on our lives. 

This morning, though, I had the opportunity to go to breakfast with Gideon with a few other students and faculty members. There were six other students and about four faculty members who were at breakfast with us, so it was a nice, small group. He sat in the middle while all of us took turns talking to him about his career and life. He is still so young, I think not even quite 30, but he has more life experience and knowledge about the world than really anyone I’ve ever met. And the cool thing is, it’s real knowledge — he doesn’t just go around preaching about stuff he thinks he knows something about but doesn’t really know or have first hand experience with. He actually lived in Iraq for a while and had travelled around the Middle East even before that. I got to ask him about the difference in what was really going on in Iraq — what he learned and witnessed while living there — versus what the media and U.S. government were telling us at the same time. He had some great insight and obviously a lot of first-hand experience and knowledge about what was and is really happening. I learned a lot of things from him that I had never known about the reality overseas. It was so interesting to hear the perspective of someone who actually lived in Iraq and interacted with Iraqi citizens on an almost daily basis. 

Anyway, I’m so excited that I got to talk to someone who is not only a fantastic journalist and someone with so much world knowledge and experience, but someone who is kind of like me. It’s inspiring to know that a journalist at the age of 20 (which I will be in a couple months) started his amazing life journey and accomplished so much at such a young age. It gives us journalist students here hope and something to strive for!

- Kristin

Late night BU/Volleyball Tournament

Hey guys!

This last weekend was so busy but really really fun! I actually had a volleyball tournament at U of I on Saturday that lasted pretty much the whole day. I can honestly say that it was the best day I’ve had pretty much all year — I was soo incredibly happy and excited all day! It was wonderful to be playing in a tournament again and be surrounded by volleyball, volleyball, and more volleyball. We played five matches (ten games), and refereed for a few games too. Usually when teams win one and lose one game, it goes on to a third game to determine the winner, but in this tournament they limited all the matches to two games so that the tournament would not go on for too long (although it still went really long anyway — we got out of there at around 6 p.m. and we’d been playing since 8 a.m.). There were 18 other teams at the tournament, and I think about six teams in our pool. 

All in all, it was a really really fun day and I bonded so much with all my teammates. It was awesome! And getting up at 4:45 a.m. was worth it (surprisingly – that’s really early)! I’m so glad I’m doing club volleyball.

Anyway, when I got back to campus Saturday night I went to see the comedian Alex House who was performing in Lydia’s lounge at 9 p.m. She was pretty funny, and there were a lot of people there!  I was surprised at how many people showed up on a Saturday night; it was really cool to see. There are a lot more events coming up in Lydia’s lounge from now on — I’m looking forward to seeing what other events they come up with! They have food services now too which is nice to be able to have a late night snack, and it’s convenient because you can use your meal plan money or quickcash money from your BU ID to buy it. I included a couple pictures from the comedy night, but I was too busy playing volleyball to get any pictures of our tournament! At our next one at Eastern in a few weekends though I’m going to try to get some photos. See ya! - Kristin

Back to school!

Hey ya’ll

So we had our first day of classes back yesterday. I’m glad we started classes on Wednesday so we don’t have a full week of school. Break was soo great! It was kind of sad when I got home on Friday though because my parents were at a concert so I was alone all night but at least my dog was at home to give me some company! Haha. I spent almost half my break in Wisconsin visiting some relatives; it was really nice to see some family. Everyone was getting together to celebrate my great grandparents’ birthday, and it was nice to see them. They’re in their 90’s I think by now, so I don’t know how many more times I’ll get to see them unfortunately

But on Monday when we were back in Naperville, we went apple-picking! It was really nice to  have our yearly tradition even though all of the ‘kids’ are getting rather old. Actually, none of my siblings or I are even ‘kids’ anymore since we’re all in our 20’s (Ok fine, I’m not 20 just yet, but soon!). It was kind of a bummer this year though because the apples were practically all picked-out! We had to search really really hard to find a small bag or two and the ones we found weren’t that good, but oh well, it was still fun to go with my family. Here are some pictures of us apple-picking. We went to a place near Dekalb called Honey Hill, it’s my favorite! And in the pictures, when you see that lacrosse-stick-looking apple-picker tool… yeah,  my brother used it to throw apples at me with. I have a bruise to prove it, haha. 

- Kristin

Fall Break one day away!

Hey guys!

So as you might be able to tell… fall break starts tomorrow! It’s a really nice time to have  a break and be able to go home for an extended weekend. We’ve been working so hard — we deserve it! And the weather is at the perfect fall stage right now so it’s an awesome time to enjoy the season with the family.

Thankfully though, the residence halls are now letting people stay in the dorms during Fall Break because some people live really far away and don’t  have the time or money to make it home for such a short break. Students living in the dorms used to have to leave no matter what, which was kind of stupid, but now if people want to stay in the dorms they can — I’m really glad they changed that rule for all the people who live in like California or Virginia like one of my friends here. 

Although, I will be leaving anyway! I’m really excited to see my family; I get to see all of them while I’m at home which is a difficult thing these days because my sister is 23 and has a full time job at a hospital, and my brother is a junior in college and doesn’t have the same breaks as me. But I’m so excited to be able to see them! And we’re going to WI to see my dad’s extended family which will be really nice too! And since it’s fall…. it’s a tradition in my family to go apple picking which we will be doing when we get back from Wisconsin. So I’m really excited for break! It’s motivating me to work hard and finish all my studying before I leave so I can enjoy break. I’ll talk to you guys when I’m back from the long weekend!

- Kristin