Lots of things to write about, but not many pictures to post!

I have a lot to update about, but since today is 9/11, I thought I would begin with some things that are relevant.

The first thing I would like to show you is the following video. A teen puppy raiser for Guide Dogs of the Blind (GDB) showed me this video about Roselle, a GDB guide dog who guided her handler from the 78th floor of the World Trade Center on 9/11. Can you imagine being the puppy raiser of THIS dog? What an amazing story. This just reminds me that you never know what the little "deeds" you do for society can turn around and end up becoming.



Yesterday Luke was telling me about his 9/11 experience. He lives 1 mile from the towers and has some pretty amazing stories and experiences. You can tell how shaken he still is by the entire experience. I learned so many fascinating things from him. He told me how things were handled that day at his school - much different than how it was done here. Kids that had parents that worked in the towers of had parents in the police/fire department were taken out of classes. He said that about 80% of his friends lost parents. One of his best friends, a girl in his class, was told that her dad jumped out of his 81st floor office window. For months after the attack his room was covered with ash and dust. On the roof of his building he could always find pens, papers, and other debris that were flown out of the buildings. He has a box under his bed that holds a collection of things that he has found from the towers. His own father was a block away from the towers when the first plane hit. He didn't come home until two days later covered in gray ash.

His perspective on what happened that day is so eye opening. From chicago we watched the TV, listened to the radio, and read newspapers. But he watched it happen with his own two eyes, and felt with his own hands the debris. It was crazy listening to his memories.

On a lighter note, I'll fill you in on a few things I have been doing this past week.

1) On Tuesday our history class went to SLU's Vatican film library in the Pius XII library (this is the main campus library right across from my dorm). SLU hold 75% of the ORIGINAL manuscripts from the vatican library in Rome. We actually got to touch some of them and read them. It was SO cool! These are extremely old pieces composed on animal skin. So interesting. Scholars from around the world come to SLU to research these, many of them not even allowed to see and touch the real copies...but we got to!

2) I would like to announce that I am an official ROCKSTAR for SAB (student activities board)!!! What is this you may ask? Well, SAB is in charge of bringing entertainment to campus - concerts, comedians, speakers, etc. Well, there are two levels to the club - Rockstars and Groupies. Me, Erin, Katie, and Dave have been selected as Rockstars! As rockstars, we have a lot of responsibility. We must attend ever meeting, help with mostly every event, promote, and do other various things. But on the flip side, we get to do a lot of super cool things! Not only do we have official gold name tags, t-shirts, and theme song, we get back stage passes, premium seating, and first dibs to be on the hospitality committee! This means that we get to escort artists around campus, dine with them, set up their dressing room, etc. The first act we get to work on is the homecoming concert, featuring JACK'S MANNEQUIN! The concert is going to be in the Chay next friday. I'm so exciteddddd! This is a band that I have always loved, and has grown to immense fame over the past few years. Check them out below:



3) Lat night a group of head went over to the Powell Theatre (3 blocks north on Grand from campus, right by the Fox Theatre) to see a debate. The debate was "Is believing in God a good thing?" It was an atheist vs. a strong christian believer, both scholars in their own area. Luke got the tickets for us. Me, Murphy, Dave, and Patrick walked over together from campus. For $10, it was very interesting to watch. It got heated when they opened the floor for the audience members to ask the scholars questions. Mom, you would have loved it!

4) On tuesday Erin and I went to hear a SLU professor talk on Global Warming. We went on behalf of ETF (the slu Environmental Task Force). The talk was very interesting, but it was all stuff that I have heard and seen before from Mrs. Brandt. It WAS cool though to feel so educated about a complicated topic! He did an awesome job presenting the information and also did a great job providing a balanced, fair opinion. The free pizza was also nice. :)

5) I have found one of my favorite places to eat on campus: in the Fusz food court there is a SLU version of Foodstuffs, except in addition to making amazing custom salads, they make custom wraps...SOOOOO GOOD!

6) I erged a 3K. Woo for me!

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A Weekend Exploring SLU

This weekend was a pretty low-key one. Those who participated in rushing were pretty exhausted, and set the tone for the weekend. On friday we decided instead of going to bowling that a group of us would take salsa dancing lessons. That didn't end up working out, so we just hung out in the dorms and watched movies. We watched She's The Man in Lily and Bailee's room, and the first half of Saving Private Ryan in Luke's room.

Saturday was filled with STUDYING. Gah, there is SO much work to do! Saturday night was another slow night. Appetites started to growl at 11pm, and by that time kitchens were closed and the restaurants were 21+. We settled on making some homemade pasta in the lounge with our combined food, but we went to get the key and they said it was missing. boo! So then we (Me, Lucie, Erin, Luke, Katie, Peter, Melissa, and Ally) decided to treat ourselves to some Vito's. Vito's is a restaurant directly across from the aviation school. It's Sicilian Italian food...and it is GOOD!!! We split pizzas, gelato, pasta, and lots of other really good Italian dishes. It's a really cute restaurant that is open until 3am. We finished dinner at about 12:30pm. A few of us went to Joe and Max's room and listened to their new demos. After that we just hung around the dorms and played some practical jokes...

Yesterday was more homework, homework, and homework. Our floor adopted a betta fish (we named him ferdinand), and Erin Katie and I got some grocery shopping done and a few other errands. Erin bought a fake arm to hang on their door...we named him chester. After working hard all day we went to 10pm mass, then attempted to do laundry, but all the machines were being used, so we gave up.





Sunday was also our second SLU ETF (environmental task force) meeting. Me, Erin, Kaite, and Adam are the t-shirt committee, and we designed this shirt to sell to all SLU students:


front


back

Of course, we are printing it on American Apparel t-shirts!

I just got back from dinner at Au Bon Pain with Dani, Lily, Bailee, and Trisha and am hoping to finish my homework in the next 3 hours!

EDIT: Howard Dean spoke on campus (behind gries, my dorm complex) on Saturday. He was actually pretty horrible. Obama would have been pretty embarrassed, no joke. Here is a picture:





Not to mention, it looks like he got his suit from the Salvation Army. Just a thought.

Cold Weather = Warm Experiences

Yesterday SLU experienced the rain from Gustav! Luckily, it was warm rain, so for those who didn't have umbrellas (I was prepared!) it wasn't too horrible of an experience...just a wet one. It was still cooler than normal, around 67, and with the air conditioning still on, the dorms seemed freezing!

On Tues/Thur 3 of us have the same class, and 1 of us has a class in the same building, same time, so we normally convene to study a bit before hand, then all walk over together. Yesterday we were in Joe's room attempting to study, but it was way too cold so Katie got the brilliant idea to make some hot chocolate. Her mom had given her a kit (including a frother which you can see in some of the pics), i had powder, milk, her and erin had marshmellows, choc chips, and joe had nothing...well he had a microwave i guess haha. So we made amazing hot chocolate in the dorms and had a great time! I've put pictures below. Joe is one of the boys that are writing their album in the dorm. The music is SOOOOOO good and just keep getting better. Anyways, that explains why there are pianos, mics, and guitars in the pictures.






Tonight the girls of 4DUB are going bowling at the Moolah!

More pictures from the weekend

I got some more pictures from Erin and Katie:



Erin and I


Erin, Katie and I


Murphy, Erin, Me, Katie


This is a guy on the floor. He has a complicated Indian name, so we just call him "V", and make Vs with our hands.


It was Courtney's 18th birthday, so we had a floor dinner and celebrated with cookie cake!

SICK!

Ugh, I am sick sick sick. My throat is extremely sore, and my right nostril is completely closed. Yuck. Luckily I have some great friends who have offered me soup, gotten me smoothies, made tea, and kept people from knocking on my door so I can sleep. Even though I have been a bit under the weather, it hasn't kept me from having fun and studying lots!

Friday:
On Friday Sherree Burrus from my Woodlands Advisory came to visit MC and I! It was lots and lots of fun! Sadly, we forgot to take pictures :(. It was a perfect night to visit because there were two dance parties going on - one that was a BIG one (hosted by jimmy brabbin's floor) in the main lobby, and one that was hosted by my friend Max in his room. Max and his roommate Joe ordered an enormous strobe light, and it had arrived that morning. Here's a picture of him and a kid named Kevin showing us when it had just arrived. We were sitting in Erin and Katie's room eating cheesecake that we had bought at The Bean as a Friday snack before getting ready.


A horrible picture of Max, Kevin, and the strobe.



THe night was fun, but also got a little hectic. My friend Luke had borrowed the key to the lounge because he was going to make guacamole. After making it, he lost the key, and the building staff would not let him have his ID back until he found the key...which means he couldn't leave the building/go to the dance party in the lobby. So we ended up spending time looking for the key, but we never found it. They ended up giving him his ID back with a $25 fine.

On saturday a big group of us went to the zoo! We took the Metro Link to Forest Park, then walked about a mile and a half to the zoo from there. It was fun, but super exhausting because of the heat!


Dave, Katie, Doug, Me, Erin




Today (Sunday) is when I really got sick. Erin and I went to the library for 5 hours to do homework. We ate dinner with some people, then me, Erin, Katie, and our friend Dave went to the Environmental Task Force club meeting (which we belong to). After that was 10pm mass, then we did laundry and studied some more.

Tomorrow we are going to Shnuk's grocery store for food!