Search results matching tag 'Fall'

Busy Bee

BUCathryn — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:55:00 GMT

The best thing to do when you have 50,000 other things to do is to make a blog post. Yay!

This week has been a whirlwind of excitement and adventure. Monday through Wednesday, us P1s went through the gauntlet of revealed cluster two scores. Some hit harder than others, and many with surprising results. Especially for me. But we're all in the same boat (cue The Lonely Island), so everything is peachy. :)

Thursday was our White Coat Ceremony. We had wonderful speakers that really made us feel welcome into the COPHS program, and sort of put everything in perspective. Classes might be whooping us right now, but we'll get through it. I'm grinding my teeth right now as "We're All in This Together" from High School Musical starts to play. I've never even seen that movie.

My family took me out to dinner and my mom stayed with me this weekend for mom/daughter times. Saturday, we went to the Crowne Hill Cemetery, which I know sounds weird, but it's actually a really interesting place to visit. There is a gigantic, thigh-busting hill where the J. W. Riley (of Riley Children's Hospital) memorial is located, and you can see the entire city! There are also veteran memorials, and a Gothic cathedral that looks like it's from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

All in all, a fun weekend! I'm exhausted now and slowly realizing that I have way too much piling up. The PAWS Event Missin' Your Mate is on Tuesday, and I hope a lot of people will come and talk about their long distance relationships! I also have an immunology quiz and piles of subjects to study with the knowledge that clusters are right after Thanksgiving break.

Now that all of the leaves are fallen, it's time to be reminded of the way campus looked at the peak of fall!

Robertson Hall, admissions and more!

The observatory! For as much as I love space, I've yet to go in there. I can see a great chandelier at night though. Looks awesome.

My favorite spot on campus--the Bell Tower. :)

A canopy of color!

Hogwarts: we kind of already go there

BUOlivia — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:09:00 GMT

You might have read Steph's blog called "Sorry Butler, I want to go to Hogwarts now." Well, Butler's campus isn't too far off the Hogwarts mark, and several places in particular remind me of Harry Potter's domain.

I mean, things besides the gorgeous vegetation. The trees are fairly bald at this point, but I have a load of beautiful fall Butler pictures that I took one day that I keep in reserve, so I'll keep posting them. Because I can.

The science library

Ha, I know I talk a lot about the science library. That's because it's a great place to study. Or to check out books like The Science of Harry Potter: How Magic Really Works or A Brain Wider Than the Sky.

But the science library reminds me of Hogwarts because it has a huge skylight on the second story in the middle of the room. The skylight is raised so you get a sense of space, and since you can see the sky, it reminds me of the Great Hall's ceiling, which reflects the weather outside.

Plus there are two long wooden tables with loads of wooden chairs under the skylight, which reminds me both of the Great Hall again and of some sort of castle library. Silly, I know. But there you have it.

The skywalk

When the weather gets chilly (it's actually been gorgeous, and I'm going outside as soon as I finish writing this), I like to cut through the buildings instead of walk out in the chill. Now, these cut-throughs are really, really out of the way. The important thing to understand is that I'm from Richmond, Virginia, and that "chill" refers to the lovely day last year when the wind chill made it feel like -25 degrees. Chilly.

But I digress.

Some of the academic buildings are connected via skywalk, and this for some reason reminds me Hogwarts. I don't know why. I don't remember Harry ever taking a stroll through one. Maybe it's because you get a pretty good view of the grounds from there. I'll just put up two pictures and let you decide.

Jordan Hall

Now, I know I'm not the only who thinks Jordan Hall looks like it should belong in Hogwarts. When my parents were moving me in, they said, "Olivia! You're at Hogwarts."

They were referring to a door. I don't have a picture of that door to Jordan, and one I do have is not as imposing, but you get the idea.

Sometimes the inside looks like Hogwarts, and sometimes it doesn't.

And now you know Butler University is actually a lot like Hogwarts. My roommate suggested that the Greek Houses were like the houses in Harry Potter (Hufflepuff and so on), and that the freshman dorms Ross and Schwitzer looked like they belonged in Harry Potter. They do. I just don't feel like writing anymore, so you can go decide that for yourself.

Hmm. Maybe I expand on this topic in a later post. Whaddya think?

If you don't know when you should visit Butler....come now!

StephF — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:28:00 GMT

So basically the best way to sum up what Butler looks like right now is to quote my cousin...."Oh my gosh, Beautiful Campus!" She and her husband have a professional photography business back home, and they came up this weekend to do an engagement shoot on campus, and loved it! Basically Butler looks amazing when the leaves change....it is basically the epitome of a college campus. Right now we are past the peak time for beautiful leaves....because the past few weeks of storms have cleared a lot of the trees off already, but there are still a few trees on campus that are absolutely gorgeous! One of them is right in front of my house....and I absolutely love walking underneath it to the front door as the sun is setting. The combination of the beautiful sky behind the yellowish-orange leaves just makes you never want to look away. So of course, I had to take a photo of this tree, since it is my absolute favorite!!!! :) I took it around 4 p.m. today, so the sky wasn't at it's prime, but its still pretty! :)

Something that is very difficult about living in a sorority house is keeping plants alive. I learned this right when I first became an Alpha Phi, because apparently no one knew that the plants in our foyer are real, so over Christmas Break, no one watered them. This might not sound like a huge deal, but it kinda was, since they came back for recruitment and they were all dead. haha. So they got new plants....don't worry....but this year we have really struggled with keeping the plants in front of our house alive. We have two HUGE flower pot stand things....and they started off holding mums, and then those died. Then we got ferns....and those died. So before the 2nd round of sorority house tours on Sunday, one of my sisters (Hannah) and I basically scoured 38th street for some sort of plant. We went from Meijer to WalMart, and then to Garden Ridge....and found nothing basically. Meijer had some mums, but they were all dead, then WalMart only had poinsettas, and apparently Garden Ridge does not sell plants. They have fake plants and such, but no real ones. So, we improvised....and bought fake flowers. We cut them apart and made some awesome arrangements......and now they are sitting in front of our house....and they look pretty fabulous I think! If you are wondering what they look like....here they are.....lookin fab of course..... :)

So if reading my blog makes you want to come to Butler to visit while it is still colorful and beautiful.....check out this website....and it will give you more info!!!!!

this has been the most interesting travel season to date.

BUMegan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:44:00 GMT

I'm officially a slacker. I can't believe I posted almost two months ago.

I'm not sure where the time went, but I know it went there FAST. Between school visits in the day, and college fairs at night, the past two months have been booked solid 12 hour days. (at least!) I still have a few days of visits left, but nothing like September and October. I want to say that it's been the best travel season, but to be honest, it hasn't. I've struggled a bit in my new role as a regional representative, and have had some unlucky circumstances cloud these past couple of months.

HOWEVER, its a new month, and I'm blogging and I am hoping everything turns out for the best! I'm ready to get back into the rhythm of a regular schedule which includes eating at normal times, working somewhat normal hours and working out! I'll keep you all posted as to how this goes. ;)

We've had a few visit days and a lot of students visiting campus. Please continue! I maintain that campus is at it's best in the fall. Trust me, you won't want to miss the trees changing. ABSOLUTELY beautiful. And with the football team at 8-0, you can't ask for a more perfect way to spend a weekend! GO DAWGS!

My focus after travel is reading files. I've been pleasantly surprised this year with how good some of the essays are. Its time consuming to read an application, but one of my favorite parts of my job. Seniors-please don't forget! Our application deadline is November 15th! Get your applications in so you'll hear in December what your admission decision is!!!

Again, as always, please let me know if you need anything!

The Great Pumpkin Slaughter of '09

BUCathryn — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:48:00 GMT

Because we pharmacy kids get no social time whatsoever (HA! just look at all of the Facebook browsing in class!), Lindsey and Kelsey invited me over for pumpkin carving.

Thankfully, Meijer labels things, otherwise I would have thought I was purchasing an orange. (Note the ridiculous battlescar. My pumpkin is a warrior!)

Let me just say that we all purchased massive pumpkins. And we were a little unsure of how to get started.

What's that, Lindsey? Should we find a BIGGER KNIFE?

I'm not having any luck either. Random note: all of those papers up the hall are an extensive layout of metabolic pathways for biochem. Oh Kelsey, you are a beast.

With a variety of kitchen utensils and those seemingly worthless carving knives, we got into the guts of our pumpkins and went to town. Kelsey chose an ambitious Edward and Bella portrait to carve and Lindsey had a super-secret design that Kelsey caught a glimpse of while washing her hands at the sink. Lindsey's super-secret design: a mortar and pestle! She'll be a great pharmacist one day. :D

Two (count 'em) TWO hours later, my Pokeball was almost complete.

Gotta catch 'em all.

Those little carving knifes are the best, but for some reason the carving pack it came with didn't include one of those pokey sticks that helps score the skin of the pumpkin. By the time I was done with my Pokeball, my thumb was numb from the vibrations of sawing through that giant pumpkin. Ouch.

To top off the night, we made some delicious pumpkin seeds. All in all, a successful Halloween activity! Go team pharmacy!

Oh, the places you'll sit

BUOlivia — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:18:00 GMT

Butler has benches. Butler has a lot of benches. See Sally sit on all the benches. See Sally sit on all the benches under the lovely fall foliage.

When I wasn't busy playing with alliteration or doing homework on Sunday, I was roaming Butler's campus with camera in hand, searching for lovely vistas to share with you. And I realized that many of those pictures contained benches. I'm surprised more people don't study on the benches, but I suppose it was a tad chilly for bare hands (necessary--for me at least--when reading or writing). Some of my friends have also told me they get too distracted when they sit outside.

I guess I'm going to be distracted no matter what.

No. I'm not that bad. Anyway, I took pictures of Butler's many benches, and here is a small sample of the outdoor seating options available to you.

Near the mall.

In front of Atherton Union...

Near Jordan Hall.

Looking at Jordan Hall. (These notes refer the pictures above, by the way.)

On the path toward the new pharmacy building, where you can watch all the pharmacy student waltz off merrily to their clusters. :)

So, those were the benches of Butler. A picture's worth a thousand words, so I'm going to stop talking now.

Recipe for a schedule

BUOlivia — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:17:00 GMT

The leaves are changing! We all know what that means...

Time to schedule classes for the spring semester!

If scheduling were an animal, I think it'd be about as high as your knee, and it would look soft to touch and you'd really want to play with it and make it do all the tricks your dog can't quite figure out. But when you reach out to pet it, it turns and bites you in the calf. Then you limp around in circles for a while, cursing.

Alternately, it could look like a red-feathered squirrel.

Scheduling. So much drama packed into one word. And I am smack dab in the midst of it. I have advising tomorrow, and I'm still not sure exactly what I'll be taking in the spring!

Instead of figuring that out, I thought I'd fill you in on how scheduling works at Butler (and probably at all colleges).

Recipe for a Schedule:

You need:

Butler's course catalogue, which can be found online and on paper
Your degree plan
A certain amount of patience

Mix your core requirements (things like your First-Year Seminar classes, Global and Historical Studies, and PE) with your general distribution requirements (classes in each of the five divisions-humanities, fine arts, the social world, natural science, and analytical thinking).
Rotate the bowl thrice counterclockwise and inspect your major's (or your majors') (or your minor's, major's, concentration's...) requirements.
Add classes as needed.
If ingredients spill over the top of the bowl or overlap (here the metaphor breaks down a bit), take some things out, juggle them around, look ahead, look behind, try adding them in a different order.
Bake it for half an hour.
Bring your half-baked ideas to your advising session. Either it works or it doesn't, or you've forgotten something, or that class is only open to upperclassmen, or you've gone over the twenty credit hour limit. Or it's perfect.
Bake it the rest of the way. (i.e. register.)
Serve warm with clotted cream.

What happened to all the warmth??

StephF — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:14:00 GMT

So as I am writing this, I am freezing. Maybe it's because I'm sitting right next to my room's A/C unit, but maybe it is because it is freezing outside all of the sudden! (And by freezing I mean...in the 60's.) Either way, it became way too cold all too soon for my tastes. I like the temperature to gradually drop off, not just bottom out without warning us! Now I am aware that it is technically fall now, but I'm just not ready to walk to class in jeans and a sweater and be cold yet! This is mostly because I am just not in the fall frame of mind yet, and because I don't have any coats here...so I hope that sweatshirts and long sleeves will suffice until Fall Break. Basically, it was really nice two weeks ago, then it rained for a week, and now summer is long-gone and I never got to say goodbye. :( I've heard that this winter is going to be bitterly cold...which I totally believe because this summer wasn't even that hot. This is probably really sad...but what I really hope is that we get another snow day like we did last year! Now if you go to a high school like I did, you would get snow days and 2 hour delays every other day during the winter (I'm from a very rural county with tons of backroads), so when you come to college and there are no snow days, you get a rude awakening. But last year, Butler had its first snow day in a LONG time....because there was 13 inches of snow on the ground and professors couldn't get to campus....and it was a FABULOUS day. :) We slept in, we sledded, we relaxed....basically it was the best college day ever. I even wrote a blog about it....:)

So even though I am really sad that it isn't warm anymore....I'm really looking forward to Butler in the fall....which is basically amazing! If you don't believe me....this is what I am looking forward to...

Isn't it gorgeous??!! I love it and I am so excited to see all the leaves change again! I feel so much better now....just blogging about fall and winter make me more excited for them...:)

Summer get-together: lab style!

SarahG — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:41:00 GMT

If you've read some of my previous blogs, you probably already know that I'm a member of Dr. Bohannon's psychology research lab. I've written about various conferences in different cities and all of the fun stuff we get to do as a result of our hard work. Well, not only do we meet up for travel and such, but we also have group meetings right here in Indy. Dr. Bohannon's house is only a couple of minutes away from campus, and he often invites us over to discuss research over meals. (Yes, he cooks for us!)

Yesterday afternoon us "labies" who are living at or near Butler this summer got together at Dr. Bohannon's for a grill-out. While he made us burgers, potatoes, and corn we discussed progress since APS and new directions in research. Some of the members are developing new studies for the Fall, and are trying to prepare everything over break. I got to tell everyone about how my study is going so far and share the preliminary results I've already found in my data set. One of the things I like most about being in Bohannon's lab is that although we each get to run our own studies and work as first authors, we still have the support and help of the rest of the lab. We run ideas across each other and offer advice when necessary. It's the best of both worlds really - you get the firsthand experience without being left entirely on your own. Of course, it also looks awesome on grad school apps!

As for my BSI study this summer, it is going very well! It's hard to believe I'm already in week seven though... only two real weeks left of research before presentations have to be made. This week is the last week I'm collecting data, and next week I'll have to score all of the protocols, enter data, and analyze it to look for significant results. It's been a lot of work this summer, but completely worth it! I'll have a head start on collecting data in the fall, so that I'll be able to jump right back in during the first week of school. It's a good thing too... I have a feeling we'll all be back on campus for the fall semester before we know it!

Summer slipping on by...

SarahG — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:24:00 GMT

Having been back at BU for 3 weeks, I'm starting to get settled in to my daily schedule. When I'm running my study, I start the day around 7AM, test participants at 8AM, meet with my professor at 10AM, and get back to my apartment in time for lunch. I usually spend my afternoons reading previous studies and research, searching for new studies and research, preparing for the next day's experimental session, and recruiting new participants. Luckily, having my research as my "job" allows me to be flexible with planning. I try to get done with everything around 5 so I have time to work-out, make dinner, and spend the rest of the evening just relaxing and hanging out. The other night I got to watch a movie with a few of my sisters who had just moved back to Butler for the summer. It was fun because I hadn't seen them since the end of the school year, so of course we stayed up chatting all night... which in turn made it not-as-easy to wake up at 7AM the next morning haha.

It's crazy to think that BSI is already 1/3 of the way over. In 6 weeks I'll be moving back to New Pal for about a month before the fall term begins. This summer is seeming to go a LOT faster than last summer, probably because I'm back on campus and keeping myself busy. I'm already making plans for the rest of the summer as well. In July I'll be heading to Cedar Point with some of my sisters for a weekend trip, and in August I'm going to Minneapolis to visit my cousin Laurie! I'm also turning 21 in mid-August, so that will be a lot of fun! Summer will be over before I know it... but I'm okay with that. Not only is fall my favorite season, but I love coming back to school for welcome week to see everyone again!