From the Eyes of a Dukie: April 2010

Hi again!! Sorry about that super long delay in posting. I've been busy with classes, extracurriculars, the usual. Just a quick breakdown of things that I've done in the past two weeks:

Classes - wrote a 10-page paper for Writing 20, wrote a 7-page paper for ICS, had an exam for CompSci, and had a report due for Chem

Extracurriculars - our club tennis team played NC State & won - yay!!, had a charity function - Scoop-A-Dish for Make-A-Wish for Chi Omega (we sold tickets to students & served Coldstone's ice cream on the BC plaza), attended a free concert (Old Duke) with Matt Kearney, Howie Day, & others!, watched the awesome Rent production by Hoof 'n Horn (musical group on campus), helped out with Blue Devil Days (admitted students come to Duke to visit/stay overnight), toured the gardens, went to Southpoint (nearby mall)

So that's about everything that's happened. Oh & allergies. Duke is absolutely gorgeous this time of year (all the time, actually, now that I think about it), but my nose never feels so great. But they're milder now & it's great! Last weekend was alumni weekend, and there were tents set up all over campus for reunions!

I can't believe there are only 8 days left of class (LDOC)! I have two more papers due, a final project, and a final exam. This year has passed by so quickly! LDOC is going to be so much fun!! Every year, Duke brings in a high-profile artist & other people to perform at an end-of-the-year free concert, LDOC. This year, we have Jay Sean, Flogging Molly, Rooney, & Big D and the Kids Table. Sooo excited!!

Other than that, not too much to update on. This week is flying by so fast!! It feels like it's Sunday.. There will definitely be more updates in the coming weeks, but as for now, bye! & Sorry there aren't any interesting pictures :( I'll definitely post some next time, though!!

Oh, & I'm sitting in Perkins library right now sitting on these REALLY cool chairs in The Link. Definitely check out the pictures here of the Link. It's a more chill, cool place to study. There are a ton of classrooms, seminar rooms, & group study rooms, and they all have three walls that are dry erase boards, & people always write on them (they come in handy so often!) & even on the windows! There are Dennys-style booths, too, which are cool for group studying, and a bunch of rolling comfy chairs that have their own little pull-out table. There are conventional chairs & tables, too, and computers, of course. But my favorite are these purple recliner-style, Ikea-esque curve chairs that look like \--^- with a backrest & a curve for your legs, and little round squishy balls-ish that you can put your foot on. They are absolutely amazing!!! My favorite for sure! Okay, that's enough about the cool-ness of the Link. Definitely the place to be!

First off, sorry about not posting this earlier! As you can expect, after we won the championship game, we headed out to watch the bonfire, hung out and celebrated (and cried a little) with friends, and briefly fell asleep. Yesterday was likewise crazy, with some classes being canceled, most not, and then in the afternoon, a welcoming home of the players into Cameron Indoor Stadium. I finally got some downtime earlier today but found that I had an IMMENSE workload for this week and next week, so I set about getting that done before heading to the gym, and here I am now!!

So, not to make you wait to see the pictures from the game or anything.. but I'm going to talk about my week chronologically!!

Thursday - Classes as usual, and then headed over to the Nasher Museum for Art (located between East & West Campus) to volunteer. It was great, and I even got to talk to the artist who came from China to give a talk about her exhibit. Check it out here! The special exhibit was Displacement. After that, it was time for the Kid Cudi/NERD concert for Cameron Rocks!!! I don't have any pictures, unfortunately, but I'll definitely put them up ASAP! Kid Cudi performed, of course, Pursuit of Happiness, Day & Night, Memories, & my favorite, Up, Up, & Away. I have recordings that I sent to my friends over the phone but I'm not sure how to upload them. I wish I knew how!!

Friday - It was Stephen's birthday, so we went to dinner, had cake with his friends, & then didn't do much. Oh, interesting, though! The guys bought Turtles in Time RS on XBox & it was super cool because I LOVE the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Oh, & the weather was AMAZING. Hello, Spring!!

Pictures of the West Campus main quad .. volleyball!!

Saturday - Crazy day!! First, I woke up at noon and had brunch with my friends before heading the Women's Lacrosse game against Northwestern, which was really intense (even though I don't entirely understand lacrosse yet). Our girls lost, but they put up a good match, especially with the weather being as it was. (Oh, side note. It's 80 degrees and sunny here!! Also a bit humid, but nobody else seems to notice it..)

Native American Student Association was holding a pow-wow in the main quad as I walked to the gym!

After, I gave my friend's brother a tour of Duke Campus and he was, undoubtedly, impressed with Wilson Gym. (It's the gym on West Campus with at least 5 basketball courts, a swimming pool, a bunch of aerobics & dance rooms, a bunch of exercise machines, and I think 4-5 floors. And it has an amazing smoothie/fresh fruit&veggies place called Quenchers! I'm guilty of going to the gym just to get a smoothie..) After, we headed to the gardens.

Duke Gardens are so gorgeous! & So many people were out tanning, playing frisbee, running around, doing their homework, everything!

The Terrace Cafe in the gardens!

After walking around the gardens, we headed to the Pitchforks concert. I don't think there's anything I can say about the Pitchforks that would accurately describe how talented they are, but I'll try. The Pitchforks are an all-male A Capella group that has recorded two CDs (one in 2006, one in 2008), both of which won the title of Best All-male A Capella Album in the Nation. Everytime I hear them, they send shivers down my spine. Here are two songs they sing, and they still don't do justice to how good they are!! Viva La Vida, You Found Me, & I'm Yours. After the concert.. it was GAME TIME!! There's no great way to describe the game in words, so I guess it will just suffice to say that we beat West Virginia & we were in the NCAA championships!!!

Sunday - Relatively mellow day. I headed to the Women's Lacrosse game against Davidson (we did really well & won!!). After, I headed back to East Campus to try and get some homework done before heading back to West Campus to grab dinner at The Loop with my FAC (First-year Advisory Council) group. I'm going to be a FAC next year, so I'll be helping with orientation & the likes. I can't wait to meet all of you!! After that, I just headed back and just hung around doing nothing (aka wasting time with friends) before finally falling asleep.

Monday - It was the first day of Blue Devil Days (where admitted students come tour the school, attend classes, go to information sessions, and choose whether or not they want to be hosted by current freshmen). I grabbed breakfast in the morning with my roommate before heading out to help out with registration (where I got to meet a lot of the pfrosh - prospective freshmen). After meeting tons of new people (fellow Admissions Ambassadors, Admissions Officers, and pfrosh), I headed to Computer Science and learned about algorithms. After, I rushed back to East Campus to meet my two pfrosh (who were staying overnight with me and my roommate) and take them around campus. We grabbed dinner at Marketplace and toured Brodie Gym (the gym on East Campus) before getting ready to go to Cameron to watch the game!! From there .. only pictures can explain.

People walking into Cameron (the line was this long before doors opened at 8pm for the tip-off at 9:30)

People packing the stands an hour before the game

Final minutes

Final minutes - Brian Zoubek's first free throw

WE WIN!!!! (Yes, the one jumping & the one wearing white are my friends. yes, they are EXCITED.)

Rushing the court!!

The next day's newspaper!!!

Carrying Southgate's bench to burn it

Bonfireeee !

After that, we all just hung out with our friends and head back to East Campus to have a dance party in the hallway. It was an amazing experience.

Tuesday - Classes happened, as usual. We had a guest lecturer in my ICS class, and Professor Sheryl Broverman talked about HIV/AIDS in Africa, which was absolutely fascinating. I had been involved in the American Red Cross in my high school and was a certified Youth HIV/AIDS Volunteer Educator, so it was interesting to see what other people thought about the issue, and it surprised me how in places like South Africa, it was just in the past year or so that head government officials started accepting that HIV led to AIDS. Fascinating!! After, I headed to Cameron to welcome back our players!