Search results matching tag 'alumni'

Dinner with Ten Bulldogs

ChristinaL — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:39:00 GMT

Everyone in college likes a free, home-cooked or restaurant meal, right?

A Dinner with Ten Bulldogs provides that luxury - and the chance to bond with Butler alumni and other students.

I've been involved with the Butler University Student Foundation (BUSF) throughout all my time at Butler, and Dinner with Ten is one of my favorite events. Our organization is all about connecting ALL members of the Butler family, including students and alumni, and what better way to do so then with food?

The idea is that alumni will contact us to set up a dinner, and then BUSF opens the invitation to a certain group of people beyond just our club - say pharmacy majors, or honors students, or Student Government members. We let people sign up until we reach 10 Bulldogs, and then those people either go over to the alum's house or meet them at a restaurant to have dinner and get to know each other.

On Wednesday night, we had an awesome Dinner with Ten with not one, but three young alumnae hosts! Our hosts were:

Kristen Fuhs Wells '05, Communications Director for the Indiana Humanities Council
Morgan Greenlee '07, Public Relations and Marketing Manager for Conrad Indianapolis (a classy downtown hotel)
Aimee Morgan '04, Marketing Manager for the Arts Council of Indianapolis

For a special twist, Kristen provided her workplace as the setting for our dinner, so we all met up at the Indiana Humanities Council headquarters in downtown Indy. The building is no ordinary office - it's a gorgeous historic house! It actually used to be the home of a famous author named Meredith Nicholson.

Here's Kristen in the garden at the IHC, as featured in a local newspaper earlier this year:

Photo credits: top: indianahumanitiescouncil.org; bottom: urbantimesonline.com

As you can tell, our hosts have graduated from Butler pretty recently - Morgan only two years ago! - so they totally remember what it was like to be a student. However, it was also amazing to hear how successful they are only a few years out of college. They said that Butler grads are really valued by employees and that there is such a strong network in Indianapolis that they feel like they meet other Butler alumni all the time in their professional lives.

We all got to hear about each of their jobs and ask them questions while we had hors d'oeuvres, and then we sat down at three smaller tables to eat. The alumnae also invited two of their favorite professors from the Journalism Department, so we got to know them and ask them questions in an informal setting too!

Overall, I think it was a really successful event. I worked a PR job this summer as a PR & Media Intern for the IndyFringe Theatre Festival. I loved the excitement of that job and the chance to apply my writing skills to practical communications... but it was also really stressful feeling like I could never get enough publicity. I am not sure yet if I want to work in PR after I graduate, but those three women from the Dinner with Ten will be great contacts for me to have, and I definitely have a better understanding of their field. On top of that, it was nice to eat dinner and get to know different people from Butler that I wouldn't normally talk to. Everyone is so friendly that it is really easy to feel comfortable! We all love Butler, after all, graduates AND current Bulldogs : )

Yet another blog about....Homecoming!

StephF — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:28:00 GMT

Ok so I have written a lot of blogs about homecoming lately, but I have good reasons, I swear! #1, I did a lot of blog-worthy things during the week/weekend...#2, it was EPIC. I think that's good enough, don't you? So on the morning of homecoming, I got up bright and early to drive some of the seniors to Broad Ripple (Christina, one of the other bloggers, talked about this in one of her blogs too!!!), and then I came back and got ready to set up different events around campus with BUSF (the Butler University Student Foundation). Basically, it was cold....but SO MUCH FUN. We got to go and get all of the golf carts they would be driving throughout the day, which was basically the best part. We formed a caravan of golf carts on our way back....so of course, I had to document it. Prepare yourself.

Here are two of my sorority sisters, Kristen & Lindsay, in their AMAZING golf cart/bus...basically, Kristen had some great maneuvering skills that you will see in a moment...

Another one of my sisters, Caitlin, and I were in a golf cart, and we couldn't get ours to turn on....so we had to refer to the Operating Instructions that were very nicely printed on the steering wheel...haha

Once we finally got them to work....we were off on our journey.... :)

Here...Kristen was trying to drive the massive golf cart in between the light posts....which was difficult since it seats like 12 people instead of 4, but eventually she succeeded!

Here we are again....in our little caravan....haha

And then we arrived at our destination. :)

Basically, I had a ton of fun getting the golf carts. After that, we decorated tables, tied bows onto trees, and carried things to different places! Before we knew it, our shift to help out was over, and the Bulldog Beauty Contest was getting ready to start. I couldn't stay for it because I was signed up to give tours of our house to Alpha Phi alumni, but I did take time to see my sorority sister, Mel's dog that she brought to the contest......he was adorable!!! His name is Hercules, and they made a toga and a crown of ivy and stuff for him to wear. Basically, I think that he should have won. He was feisty but still so sweet...which made me miss my dogs from home! But he was still an amazing dog, so I just had to take a photo of him....here he is... :) (and thats Mel holding him.....even though you can only see her legs....sorry Mel!!!)

So to close out my pre-homecoming festivities, I stood watch in our foyer as alumni came and went throughout our house. (Someone had to be there to let them in!!) It was awesome to get to meet the girls who lived here before us, and to get to hear the stories that they had about their days at A Phi. They all wanted to hear about what we are doing with the house now, and how things have changed.....and of course, we all wanted to know what living in the house was like 5-10 years ago! As I watched them come in to the house and yell and scream when they saw people for the first time in years, it made me actually look forward to the day when I will get to come back to the house during homecoming and get to see all of my sisters back in our house again. :) So this is my final homecoming blog, I hope you have enjoyed reading about my intense week....because I have really enjoyed getting to somewhat relive it by blogging about it!!!! Happy Homecoming!!!!!

Senior Homecoming!

ChristinaL — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:52:00 GMT

At 7 am on a Saturday morning, where can you find most 21 and 22 year old college students?

In bed?

Yes, usually. But not on Homecoming Saturday!

I'm not sure exactly how or when this started, but at least as long as I've been at Butler, there has been a kind of ridiculous senior Homecoming tradition: At 7 am, two of the bars in the nearby Broad Ripple neighborhood open their doors and tons of seniors crowd in there for our first class reunion of sorts.

At 11:30 pm the night before, my friends and I were still up in the air about it. Did we really want to wake up at 6 am to go to the bars by 7? 6 AM?!? But, tradition is a powerful thing, and this is the ONLY time in our lives that drinking at 7 am would be socially acceptable. There's a definite gimmick factor there.

Because the theme of Homecoming was "Rewind through Time," we decided to dress in the style of the 80s. I mean, if you're at the bars at 7 am, you already look ridiculous, so why not embrace it?

Keepin' it classy (pinkies up) with mimosas - a drink you can kind of justify in the morning because it has orange juice.

In the end, I think we were all really glad we went. It was something funny we will never forget, and it was great to see so many seniors in one place. I actually did get to talk to a lot of people I haven't seen in ages, so it was a successful morning.

We just missed getting back in time for the traditional chariot races, unfortunately, but we took a short nap (we had been up since SIX AM, people!) and then went to watch the Homecoming Parade and then the football game.

I won't lie; I don't care about football at all, whether at Butler or anywhere else, but you have to go at Homecoming for the social experience. All the students sit on blankets on the hill in the endzone, and there were tons of young alumni that graduated last year visiting! Good times.

The best part of the day, though, was definitely the announcement of the Homecoming results. I mentioned earlier this week that one of my best Butler friends, Betsy, was the Homecoming Queen candidate for Ross Hall, the mostly-freshmen residence hall where she is an RA. She and our friend Anthony, the King candidate, put on a very clever campaign, and put SO much work into getting the freshmen at Ross involved in there very first Homecoming, so I was not at all surprised but totally thrilled when Betsy was named HOMECOMING QUEEN! I was so proud and thrilled, and took a million pictures of her with her crown! haha. The best part was when we went out to dinner that night and we all made her wear the crown, and this little girl in the restaurant ran up behind her and just pointed and stared in awe. Betsy is Shirley the Queen!

So, with all these unexpected and fun adventures, my senior Homecoming was definitely my favorite so far! I still can't believe I'm so old, but at least it's a good time. Happy Homecoming, Bulldogs!

Pi Phis Take Over Texas

ChristinaL — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:13:00 GMT

Howdy ya'll! ; ) I am writing to you from DALLAS, TEXAS where I am on location for the 67th convention of the Pi Beta Phi fraternity for women!

I'm not sure exactly how many Pi Phis are here, but there are 134 active collegiate chapters with at least one representative (most have two or more), and there are even more than 150 (I think!) alumnae clubs represented by at least one woman. Okay, so my by-the-numbers approach is lacking some substance but let me just say that there are A TON of Pi Phi women and we have taken over the Gaylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center in full force!

On Friday morning, our chapter president Erikaa, one of our alumnae advisors Kristi, and I all flew down from Indianapolis. It was a long day because we had to take two flights and the only thing on tv while we sat around on our layover was Michael Jackson tributes, so I had "Billy Jean," "Thriller," and that "The Way You Make Me Feel" song that's in Center Stage stuck in my head all day.

But, it was all worth it when we arrived at this HUGE convention center in Texas with *insert very large number* of our fraternity sisters! They don't lie - everything is bigger in Texas. This resort is like a small city with everything you could possibly need; until Erikaa and I took a walk this afternoon (Sunday), we hadn't been outside since Friday afternoon... crazy. There are also a LOT of Pi Phis, so everything is en masse this week.

So what have we been up to?

meeting sisters from other colleges! The best thing ever is learning how many amazing women are part of the larger sisterhood that we share. I love hearing about all the cool things they do personally... and stealing ideas from the awesome things they do in their chapters at home.

meeting alumnae!* It is a common misconception that a Greek organization is something for college students. College is only the beginning, and with so many alumnae of all ages here (literally! there are a lot of "Golden Arrows" here, which means women who were initiated 50 years ago!!), it is so inspiring to see how many women are able to stay involved in Pi Phi activities long after their graduation day. Not only do alumnae clubs support the Pi Phi chapters at colleges, but they also do their own community service and philanthropy and provide a network of friends to support any Pi Phi. If I ever move to a new city, I know that I can look up the nearest Pi Phi alumnae club and meet some passionate, intelligent, engaged women in that community. That's a great network to have wherever I go. I especially loved getting to meet alumnae from our chapter at Butler. I got to hear about what BU was like in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Some traditions like Geneva Stunts have been around FOREVER at Butler...and they're still going strong.

learning about our values. Greek organizations are different from other clubs because they are based on values. Pi Beta Phi's values are Intergrity, Lifelong Commitment, Honor & Respect, Philanthropic Service to Others, Personal and Intellectual Growth and Sincere Friendship.

voting on legislation and electing new leaders for the fraternity.

learning how to create more effective and meaningful programs for our chapter members. Greek life is about developing yourself as a whole, well-rounded person, and at our convention we've talked about the ways that we can help our members to grow as students, women, friends, etc. while upholding and reinforcing our values. It is a huge responsibility to put on programming that educates our chapter, but that's one of the things I love about sorority life - college women take on this great challenge to teach their peers about ideals and qualities they value.

discussing some of the challenges facing college students, like binge drinking and hazing, and how Pi Phis can be a force of positive change on our campuses when it comes to these kind of issues.

learning more about our initiation ritual and discussing why it is so important to us.

eating a lot of really tasty food. mmmm!

singing Pi Phi songs, most of which are meaningful and beautiful... and some of which are really old and silly and have ridiculous lyrics about how Pi Phis won't hold men's hands because they are angels (and thus not promiscuous enough to *gasp* hold hands) ; )

hanging out, having fun and enjoying the fellowship!

It is such a cool experience to see the larger picture of what the fraternity is all about and how it works. We also have the chance to give input into our organization and learn from its top leaders.

At dinner tonight, I sat next to the Grand Vice President of Membership! Luellen is a really big deal... and I got to pick her brain for an hour about how to really recruit the most quality members who live up to our values and will be committed to the chapter. Awesome! While she was there, the former Grand President (aka the leader of the entire fraternity), who also happens to be the most adorable little old (and feisty, intelligent, well-spoken and loving) Southern woman came up to talk to Luellen and gave me a hug. The former Grand President! Highlight of my day, for sure. Her name is Sis Mullis, and she is on my short list of very inspiring women.

I also had a great experience tonight talking to the Risk Management Officer for Pi Phi. We watched a documentary about hazing and binge drinking, and I shared with her an idea I had about a discussion that chapters could have that would be honest and open and try to get to the real issues of why college students sometimes drink excessively. Sarah was really interested in what I had to say, and we're going to stay in touch via email and our discussion might lead to new programming for the whole fraternity!

I guess I say all this to emphasize how great it is to be surrounded by the leaders that are making amazing things happen for a community of over 200,000 fabulous women. I am learning so much, but I'm not just here as an observer, and it is exciting to take an active role in my fraternity family.

More updates - and pictures - will come soon. Tomorrow is the last day of business... I'm not ready to go home!

*Christina's Grammar Public Service Announcement regarding Words That Describe People Who Graduated From An Institution:

Alumnus = singular male

Alumna = singular female

Alum = short, slang version of singular

Alumni = plural verson of alumnus - can describe a group of all males, or a mixed gender group)

Alumnae = plural version of alumna - describes a group of females

I say this because these can be very confusing for people to keep straight and as someone who works in the Alumni Office and with many alumni through campus organizations... this drives me slightly crazy. But, I will chalk it up to a lack of awareness and rectify that situation by explaining the right terminology and trust you to check yourself. My English major, grammar-lovin' soul begs of you:

Please do not use "alum" as a plural form. (I will cry.) As in: "Our alum are such great people. They have so much Butler spirit." ALUM IS NOT PLURAL, PEOPLE!

Ok, now stepping off my grammar soapbox! Have a good night : )

Museum Marathon: Design, Harry Potter... and The Hills?

ChristinaL — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:07:00 GMT

HELLO, hectic weekend. I am officially on vacation now, (even though I unofficially still have a whole lot of work to do!) but so far the begining of my break has been pretty crazy.

Since I am peacing out of Indy for about a week and a half and the European Design exhibit at the Indianapolis Art Museum is closing TODAY, I had to bike over there and check it out on Thursday before leaving town.

If you haven't heard me mention it before, the IMA is literally down the street from Butler and a really awesome art museum with beautiful gardens. It's free for everyone, all the time, which makes it awesome to just pop into and visit for an hour or two when you need a little escape from Butler.

They have a fantastic collection, but they also bring in some really cool exhibitions from around the world. This spring, the special exhibit was called European Design Since 1985, and it focused on decorative and industrial design - furniture, kitchenware, home decorations, etc. The whole thing definitely reminded me of IKEA (which, if you have never been, is an excellent place to buy dorm room furniture... I have a little table I bought for literally $10 that has been a staple of my college room for the last two years.)

I think it's very cool that the IMA includes all kinds of art and design that you might not traditionally think of as belonging in a museum. For example, earlier this summer, they brought in the lead designer from Target to talk about the design that goes into all aspects of the store. He was so geeky and excited about art - I loved hearing about it! You can read the review I wrote for NUVO about his talk to hear more details about what he said. But anyway, the best part about decorative design is that much of it can be mass-produced, so in the gift shop at the end of the exhibit, you actually buy some of the items that are on display in the show to take home with you! It's kind of inspiring to think about your home and the things in it as potential art. If you live in Indy, you should go check it out TODAY because it's the last day. The exhibit only costs $3 with a college ID - yay for cheap entertainment.

After I saw the exhibit and packed up my car, I drove home to Chicago where my family lives. I was up bright and early on Friday morning to drive downtown with my mother to the Museum of Science and Industry!

This was a work day AND a vacation. The Office of Alumni & Parent Programs (where I work this summer) and the Chicago Alumni Chapter were sponsoring a Butler gathering at MSI to see the Harry Potter exhibit. There were Butler alumni, parents and friends of all ages who came in to enjoy lunch and the exhibit together. My favorite part of the event was getting to meet Jen, one of the leaders of the Chicago Alumni Chapter, because she actually works at the Museum of Science & Industry in their development office... what a cool job! Development is a field I am considering for my future, so maybe Jen and I will have to chat again soon. It is always inspiring to see the interesting and fun jobs that Butler grads end up in.

I didn't actually spend TOO much time chatting, though, because I was busy shuttling people from the check-in table up to the room where we had lunch. It was a free day for the museum (which is usually quite expensive) and Jen said that more than 10, 000 people came, including approximately every YMCA day camp in Illinois. So, my job was to lead all the Butler people through the chaos of children to get to our lunch! The ticket-taker man and I became bffs.

It was worth it, though, to work at the event, because I got a free ticket to the Harry Potter exhibit. Walking through there is like being in the movies! They have lots of costumes and props from the films, and the whole thing is set up with music and scenery to make you feel like you are actually at Hogwarts - lots of fun. It made me excited for the next movie to come out this summer - my roommates and I are planning to go at midnight... anyone else??

Here I am out in the lobby of the Museum with the car Harry and Ron fly in from the second film:

After all this, my mom and I planned to drive to Rockford to see the Bluecoats and some of my other friends perform at a Drum Corps International show. Unfortunately, the weather went totally crazy. There were tornados touching down in Northern Illinois and the rain was absolutely insane!! My windshield wipers could not keep up, and we ended up driving like 25 mph with our hazards on because we could barely see the other cars on the road through all the water. This was the sky afterwards:

But, eventually we got there. Even though it made me even more sad about not being in the Bluecoats this summer, it was so great to see so many people I love and have known for ages. Best friends are good for the soul. So is very loud music from some great drum corps.

We didn't get back from Rockford until 2 am, though, and today has been busy with packing for our family vacation and a grad party for a family friend. My dad and I went to downtown Naperville to get lunch and I noticed an unusually large number of girls walking around in short dresses. People in the Ville always dress kind of ridiculously, but today, more than normal. After lunch, I suggested to my dad that we pop into our favorite local bookstore, but when we got there, we noticed a critical mass of those teenage girls. When I saw two of them wearing matching "I Hate Spencer" shirts, I had a feeling that I knew what was up... sure enough, Lauren Conrad of The Hills was in MY bookstore, doing a book signing. Ridiculous. I did not even catch a glimpse of her because she was surrounded by so many wannabe fashionistas, but it was still a strange experience when I was just going for a stroll after lunch!

What a weekend, and it's only Saturday night. Michigan tomorrow!

Tony Hinkle and our big Butler family

ChristinaL — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:45:00 GMT

Hey friends! Sorry I have been away for a week... I will tell you more tales of the computer crash later, but for now I want to share with you a quick but cool story from work yesterday.

My part-time campus job for the summer is working in the Alumni Office. Sometimes I do really tedious boring things, but a lot of the jobs are actually really interesting. For example, I get to read all the newspaper articles that are associated with Butler for the week to see if there is any news about alumni that we should put in our magazine. Perhaps my most favorite job is working on the mini-yearbooks for the reunions.

For their major class reunions, the alumni send in little bios so we can make a book of what they're all up to, and one of the questions the form asks them is who their favorite professors or staff were when they were at Butler. Yesterday, I was working on the 50th Reunion bios, and it is SO cool to see some of the athletes name the legendary Coach Tony Hinkle as one of their favorite staff members.

Our famous fieldhouse is named after him (the one that's in the movie Hoosiers! even though back then it was still called Butler Fieldhouse), and he developed the Butler Way, and did so much to establish our strong athletics program here. To me, Hinkle is a place, a name that I associate with going to the fieldhouse every Saturday afternoon in the winter and cheering with my friends, Butler spirit and fun campus events... it is like a second home on campus. So, when I read these bios, it is almost hard to believe that there are people still around the Butler family for whom Tony Hinkle was a real person they knew and saw every day! The man is iconic. (Figuratively, and soon, literally as well: the Class of 2009 is donating a bronze bust of Tony Hinkle as their class gift!)

Anyway, I guess it was such a cool moment to see Hinkle's name yesterday because I was reminded that being part of the Butler family means I am part of something bigger. I have always known that we have such a cool history, but I guess it's something I don't always associate with myself here right now at Butler. But looking at the handwriting of all these Butler alums who wrote about Tony Hinkle and other memories of their college days fifty years ago, I realize that these are all real people, and we're in the midst of Butler history right now. These people wrote about how much their memories of their professors and their friends and their sports teams and Greek houses and roomates all still mean to them fifty years later. It was cool to realize that there are so many people out there in the world that I don't even know who carry the same love for Butler with them wherever they go and as they achieve great things.

I don't want to be too sappy about it, because no place or group of people is perfect, but regardless, they sometimes become your home and family. I was excited to be reminded yesterday just how far-reaching and historic this family is.

Something cool to leave you with... here are the five principles of The Butler Way as posted in the Men's Basketball locker-room:

Humility - know who we are, strengths and weaknesses
Passion - do not be lukewarm, commit to excellence
Unity - do not divide our house, team first
Servanthood - make teammates better, lead by giving
Thankfulness - learn from every circumstance

I have a feeling that Tony Hinkle was a pretty cool guy.

Best of Butler at Honors Weekend

ChristinaL — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 04:44:00 GMT

Whew! Honors Weekend is finally wrapping up! This is the weekend when Butler hosts a number of events to recognize outstanding students, including the Top 100 Banquet, Honors Program events and academic college awards. It is one of my favorite times of year, because I really get to learn about all the amazing scholarship,research, service, and leadership that my classmates are doing. They always inspire me to be a better student and citizen after I hear what they've been up to. Now that I am an upperclassman, I know most of the people winning the awards, which makes it even more fun.

Friday was the Top 100 Banquet. This is an event sponsored by the Alumni Association which recognizes 100 outstanding junior and senior students for their achievements in the classroom, their character, and their leadership and service in BU extracurricular activities and the community. At the banquet, the Top 10 Women and Men and the Outstanding Female and Male student are named.

I was totally shocked to be named as one of the Top 10 Women this year! Seriously! Typically the Top 10 is mostly made up of seniors so it was quite a surprise, but also a great honor to receive that award during my junior year. Although I can think of many more people who are very deserving of that award, I do put so much of my time and passion into Butler, so it was exciting and rewarding to be recognized for this. I really liked that the focus of the Banquet was thanking our families, friends, and professors who have helped us make it this far, because I would be nothing without the constant support of all my loved ones.

Here are the 2009 Top 10 Women and Men. I was so honored to stand beside people I really admire on this campus! You can also see our University President Dr. Bobby Fong on the far left.

Today there was a brunch reception for upper-level Honors students - the seniors who just turned in their theses and the juniors who just turned in our proposals and are now hearing back. (Mine got approved - hooray!). I didn't make it to that brunch because my parents, sister and grandparents were here so we all wanted to go out together for breakfast at Cafe Patachou (basically my favorite restaurant in Indy - SO good!)

This afternoon we had the academic awards. I went to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences on behalf of the English Department. I got an award for excellence in literature, which was also surprising (considering I was away from the department studying abroad for half of this year...) but exciting to receive from the professors I respect so much. The thing about LAS Awards is that we are the biggest College at Butler, so our ceremony takes FOREVER. It was so hard to sit still that long... but I do enjoy hearing the Dean read the bio of each student as they accept their award. Like I said earlier, Butler students are AMAZING! It is so cool to hear where everybody has been interning, the awesome schools they are going to for graduate work, and all the community service hours they have logged and organizations they have led.

Another cool aspect of the awards was that nine of my sorority sisters were also winning LAS academic awards this morning. Altogether we represented English, Biology, Physics, History and Journalism! Go Pi Phi! I love having these women around me - their influence pushes me to strive for more when it comes to schoolwork. One of our sisters, Alyssa, is a double major in Biology and Chemistry and STILL HAS A 4.0 going into our senior year. She is awesome and definitely inspires me - not just with her academics but with her integrity and devotion that she gives to all that she does.

Another inspiring sister is my very own roommate, Kim! Kim is a physics major who is basically super smart and amazing at life. Kim did research on black holes last summer through the Butler Summer Institute, an opportunity that pays students to stay at BU and work with a faculty member on a research project. She presented this work at a conference in California over winter break alongside her advisor, and all this work and attention has led her to be accepted in an OUTSTANDING physics summer research program at UCLA. She turned down Harvard for this! Yeah, she's a big deal. We also found out this week that Kim has been named a Goldwater Scholar, which is a hugely important scholarship and honor for science majors (click the link to read the BU press release about her!). I am so proud of her!

Kim and I at the LAS Awards ceremony! It was not quite sundress weather... but I just can't wait!

Anyway, at some point I hope to make up a list of all the really cool things my Butler friends have done, because whether they were honored this weekend or not., people are doing amazing things on this campus, and you should know about it.

It is amazing what an outstanding education and a creative, critical, compassionate mind will do for you! Pursue both wholeheartedly.

Strange Encounters of the Butler Kind

ChristinaL — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:53:00 GMT

You might think I’m making this up just to make a good story for my blog, but I SWEAR, this really happened to me, not once but twice in Europe.

Let me explain.

As you may remember, I recently took a trip to London, where obviously, I needed to go on a Harry Potter tour. Our guide designated one of the little boys to be our “Harry,” and after the kid announced that he was from “Indiaaaana” (in a British accent), I went up to talk to his father.

I learned that the Harry had a British accent because he has been raised in London, but the family is originally from Indiana. In London, meeting someone else from Indiana would be coincidence enough. However, when I told Steve that I am a temporary Hoosier attending Butler…

[suspense]

…I learned that Steve was a Butler pharmacy grad from the 80s!

I could not believe it. It was like meeting a long lost cousin or something.

(Here are Steve, his kids, and I with our eclectic Harry Potter tour guide. Please also observe the Harry Potter-style Butler scarf I am wearing.)

We quickly bonded over the Butler connection and spent the whole tour chatting about BU and traveling in Europe. After Butler, Steve went to law school and now works for Rolls Royce in London, where his family has had the opportunity to travel all over Europe, so he had lots of advice for me. I also got to give him an update on life at Butler, since when he went to school, the Mall was still a street, and there was *gasp* no Starbucks. Don’t worry, though, they had C-Club back then. Steve couldn’t believe that the name of our infamous food court and his favorite study spot has stayed the same.

Then, a few weeks ago, my friend Brian and I randomly decided to take a last minute trip to Salamanca, the oldest university in Spain which dates back to the 1200s. Pretty sweet, right? Well, we were exploring the university museum when we stumbled upon this tiny little exhibit about the Civil War. There we are, reading up on the Spanish Civil War when we hear the door open… and in walks Caleb, another Butler student who lived across the hall from Brian in Ross Hall their freshmen year!

Caleb is also studying abroad in Spain, but he’s in a different program in Sevilla, seven hours away from us. What are the chances that we would not only randomly decide to go to Salamanca on the same weekend, but that we would cross paths in such an obscure place?

Only Butler.

I had never met Steve or Caleb before, but I left them both feeling like I was saying goodbye to old friends. Butler is family, and especially when you’re across the Atlantic, there is nothing better than seeing a smiling face that reminds you of home.

Back from the Dead! (Motherboard)

ChristinaL — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:34:00 GMT

Hey everyone! I'm back!

Sorry for not writing for FOREVER, but here's what happened: my laptop with all my stuff on it died a tragic death.

Thus I can now give you my best college advice ever: don't ever put your laptop in a tote bag with a cheap water bottle. Not even for 20 minutes! Laptops, it turns out, do not like impromptu baths in your bags. Who would've thought? ; ) Okay so my REAL advice: PAY FOR AN EXTENDED WARRANTY ON YOUR COMPUTER! That is the reason why my bank account is NOT currently empty... because I didn't have to pay for any of my repaires (or a new computer.) Also, make sure you know at least one person who works for IR (computer services) quite well so they can diagnosis your dead computer and tell you what to tell the tech support person who is probably in India and will make you go through a number of completely useless tests otherwise (thanks, Malcolm! You're the best.)

Actually, the sad thing that I discovered was that minus the temporary lack of access to my files, I could really function alright without a laptop at my house. I used my roomie's occasionally, but I mostly just became better acquainted with the many computer labs on campus: Atherton Union, Jordan Hall, Fairbanks, the Science Library, Irwin Library... I think I used over 50% of the computer labs this week. So you might ask why this is sad news? well, I discovered how much I really just WANT to have my laptop at home so I can check my email 50 times a day and update my facebook status every time something amusing happens.

Anyway, I still have 10,000 things to tell you all about, but April is SO crazy.

Today I had class/work from 8 am -5 pm and then I went to a networking event with Butler Young Alumni downtown at the (very swanky) Columbia Club! It was a blast because I went with some BU Student Foundation friends and we got to talk to some alumni who actually used to be in our organization. I also met many of the Young Alumni Board members who we are doing a service project with next weekend - can't wait for that. They were really nice and gave me lots of encouraging advice about being a liberal arts major! (Their words of wisdom: do lots of internships.) After that, I went to Qdoba in Broad Ripple with my roomies because they were having a give-back night for the Children's Wish Fund that the Recording Industry Club supports. It was a good excuse to spend some time together. As usual, I laughed so hard, I almost cried. My roommates are THE BEST.

Tonight I will probably be up for another hour or two finishing a Postmodernism paper and C&T overnight write. Tomorrow I am getting up early to go running with my friend Chris because it's SPRING, finally, and so we can run outside. After that it's going to be a looooong Friday, but I cancelled all my Saturday plans for an all-day study party. I'm actually really excited about that, because the pace of life lately has been too crazy.

Right now it's been raining all night and it is cool outside and the sound is quite relaxing... life is good.

Are YOU a Bulldog? Basketball Trivia

ChristinaL — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:53:00 GMT

So, my big project of the last few months finally came to life today! We tried out a new program for the Student Foundation (BUSF) called Triple Threat, which was basically a BUSF-sponsored basketball game that included three generations of Butler: alumni, current students and prospectives. We had a BUSF reunion lunch for all the alumni who used to be in our organization, and we also had about 25 prospective students from the central Indiana area join us (hello and thanks for coming, if any of you are reading this!) They sat in the Dawg Pound with BUSFers to get the real feel of being a Butler student cheering on the Bulldogs. The part of the event I was most involved in was planning some of the time-out games... it's crazy how much preparation goes into everything happening at a basketball game. I have so much respect for Butler Sports Marketing now!!

Anyway, one of the games I created was a Butler Basketball trivia contest, based off of the popular one currently circulating facebook (I am currently an Apprentice with 960 points haha...how about you?) I thought I would post my questions here for you all to take a try at!

Put your answers in a comment, and in a few days I'll post the real answers, as well as who was closest.

1. Hinkle Fieldhouse was featured in which movie?

2. Prior to 2007, when was the last time the Butler Men’s Basketball team made it to the Sweet Sixteen?

3. In November 2007, Butler won the Great Alaska Shoot-out. What team did they play in the final round and who coaches that team?

4. Which three teams did Butler play in the NCAA Tournament last year?

5. Which of the following players has been at Butler since his freshman year?

Mike Green
Drew Streicher
Pete Campbell
Julian Betko

6. Of the four most recent Butler Basketball coaches, which one is NOT a Butler alum?

Barry Collier
Thad Matta
Todd Lickliter
Brad Stevens

7. How many members of the Graves family have played for Butler basketball and how are they related?

8. How many seasons did Tony Hinkle coach basketball at Butler?

(Oh, and in case you were wondering, we did beat UIC today!) GO BULLDOGS!