Hey guys! So last week my roommates and I went to see the Blue Man Group perform at Elliott Hall of Music! It was my first time seeing them live. I had heard so many good things about them from others, I just had to go and see them for myself. Let me just say, they were absolutely amazing! They always kept me guessing and I was laughing and dancing the whole performance. It was pretty much the best $20 I have ever spent! Also, last week I got the privilege of meeting President Cordova during a meeting about the new college! It was an awesome experience because it was my first time meeting the President and she was an amazing lady. All this past weeks excitement has lead up to what I have been waiting for since the beginning of the semester! SPRING BREAK! I am so ready to just go home and relax and hang out with my family and our new puppy, Macy! But I’m sure I will end up working on figuring out which graduate schools I want to apply to and write my personal statement. Well, that’s been about all I’ve been up to lately besides homework and studying!
-- Alyssa
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Fashion Week 2011
I entered through the doors and it was if I’d never left. Familiar faces of design team members greeted me, welcoming the assistance; new intern faces greeted me with questioning glances. We worked until the late hours, stitching away at hems, cutting geometric shapes for glove cuffs, attaching buttons, and helping in any other way possible.
My return to NYC was elongated compared to my visit in September – I took five days off to source more fabric and trims for my senior collection, help out at Cynthia Rowley prior to the show, and to work the runway show backstage on February 11, 2011.
It still all flew by quite quickly. I spent two full evenings and one whole day with CR and the rest of the time running around the garment district with my checklist. The city was the same as it will always be – fast paced, business oriented, and a culture overload. But I loved it nonetheless. I obtained everything necessary to complete my collection, met with good friends I’d gone to school at F.I.T. with, and was able to assist with a great group of individuals in the completion of a splendid, dimensional collection.
Check out cynthiarowley.com for the full runway video! I also hope to see you all at the Purdue Fashion Show on April 2, 2011.
-- Ashley
My return to NYC was elongated compared to my visit in September – I took five days off to source more fabric and trims for my senior collection, help out at Cynthia Rowley prior to the show, and to work the runway show backstage on February 11, 2011.
It still all flew by quite quickly. I spent two full evenings and one whole day with CR and the rest of the time running around the garment district with my checklist. The city was the same as it will always be – fast paced, business oriented, and a culture overload. But I loved it nonetheless. I obtained everything necessary to complete my collection, met with good friends I’d gone to school at F.I.T. with, and was able to assist with a great group of individuals in the completion of a splendid, dimensional collection.
Check out cynthiarowley.com for the full runway video! I also hope to see you all at the Purdue Fashion Show on April 2, 2011.
-- Ashley
Looking forward to Spain!
Only 88 days until I leave the United States for my summer study abroad trip to Madrid! (I’m not counting down the days or anything…) Last week all 30 of us Purdue students got together with our Spanish professor Ana Gomez-Bravo for an info session about where we’re going to be spending our summer! Madrid is the capitol of Spain, and it is filled with historic monuments, parks, plazas, shopping districts, and museums. I can’t wait to spend six weeks taking classes and exploring the city! We plan on leaving at the end of May, and we’ll be living in Madrid until the middle of July.
I will have the opportunity to take 6 credit hours in two classes – the Art of the Prado and Spanish Food and Culture. We’ll learn all about Spanish artists while exploring the Prado Museum in Madrid. And from Professor Gomez-Bravo herself will be the experience of cooking Spanish food and tasting new ingredients. My “Art of the Prado” class will take place at the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, which is one of the top ten universities in Spain.
We’ll all be living in the homes of Spanish families during our stay, which is exciting for me! I know some students who are apprehensive about the experience, but I think it’ll be an amazing to gain that sort of familiarity with natives of the city and to be completely immersed in their culture and language and food. I imagine that my Spanish speaking skills will be much more honed by the time I return to the States!
My credit gained through this experience will count toward my Spanish minor, but the knowledge that I will gain from this is much more extensive than just the language. By living as a student in a foreign country, I will be able to soak in so much of the culture and reach a new level of understanding of the people there. Being there for a long period of time can get me past a surface-level exposure to the city and the country – much better than the normal tourist experience! What I hope to gain most from this adventure is a summer of awesome memories from learning by immersion in one of the most vibrant cultures in the world.
-- Laurel Donaldson
I will have the opportunity to take 6 credit hours in two classes – the Art of the Prado and Spanish Food and Culture. We’ll learn all about Spanish artists while exploring the Prado Museum in Madrid. And from Professor Gomez-Bravo herself will be the experience of cooking Spanish food and tasting new ingredients. My “Art of the Prado” class will take place at the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, which is one of the top ten universities in Spain.
We’ll all be living in the homes of Spanish families during our stay, which is exciting for me! I know some students who are apprehensive about the experience, but I think it’ll be an amazing to gain that sort of familiarity with natives of the city and to be completely immersed in their culture and language and food. I imagine that my Spanish speaking skills will be much more honed by the time I return to the States!
My credit gained through this experience will count toward my Spanish minor, but the knowledge that I will gain from this is much more extensive than just the language. By living as a student in a foreign country, I will be able to soak in so much of the culture and reach a new level of understanding of the people there. Being there for a long period of time can get me past a surface-level exposure to the city and the country – much better than the normal tourist experience! What I hope to gain most from this adventure is a summer of awesome memories from learning by immersion in one of the most vibrant cultures in the world.
-- Laurel Donaldson
12th Annual Women in Leadership Conference
This weekend I was able to participate in the 12th Annual Women in Leadership Conference Lead-HER-ship: Navigating Our Way to Success. It is a great program offered for Purdue students to come together and find ways to improve and expand leadership skills from listening to current leaders. There was a panel of five women leaders who discussed topics on Listening, Confidence, and Bringing Out the Best in People-just to name a few. The take away messages that I gained from this experience was that it is all being able to maintain balance in your life, and the definition of balance will change further into your career because of your different values and goals. Also, to make success happen you need to get a realistic idea of what you want your life to look like. Visualize it!
--- Kimberly Ziarko
--- Kimberly Ziarko
Monday, February 28, 2011
Over fall break, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to New York with Purdue’s Christian Campus House (PCCH). This trip was part of the Global Connect Ministry. The Global Connect Ministry provides foreign exchange students with the opportunity to see more of the Unites States and get better connected with Purdue students. It was privilege to be a part of the trip. We left early Saturday morning from PCCH and drove to Indianapolis to catch our flight. I was a little more excited/nervous than others because I had never flown in an airplane before. Getting through security wasn’t quite the nightmare I had expected it to be, maybe because it was so early. Regardless, I was glad for how smoothly everything was going. Take off was a little nerve wracking and two and a half hours later I was the farthest from home I’d ever been, which was also nerve wracking. During our time in New York, we stayed in a hostel which wasn’t at all what I expected it to be. It was a really nice place with very friendly people. Every second of everyday was jam packed full of things to do and see. We hit nearly all the big sites in the Big Apple. We went to Central Park, the Empire State Building, Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, Wall Street, 5th Avenue, China Town, Little Italy, Soho, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Colombia University. We saw Billy Elliott on Broadway, went to church at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, had deep dish pizza, and of course went shopping at all the amazing stores. We also went to Ground Zero which was probably the most memorable and moving experience. Despite all the things we got to do, spending time with people on the trip was definitely the best part. It was great to have really intentional conversations with people in the time we had. Learning about people’s lives and having them be equally interested in yours was really humbling. Leaving New York was really sad. One weekend didn’t quite seem like long enough to site see or get to know everyone when we headed for home. We were all exhausted when we left but all glad that we had been able to share such a great experience. I left New York City with a lot of memories and a lot more friends. It will forever be in my book as one of the best weekends of my life.Monday, February 14, 2011
My Trip to Haiti
Over the past winter break, I had the amazing opportunity to go to Haiti. I went with a group from St. Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic Church that is located on Purdue’s campus. Sixteen other students and I traveled to Haiti’s country side and stayed in a small village called Baudin. We were there for six days.
Within those six days, we were able to help a few Haitian construction workers rebuild a library that was part of St. Francis Xavier church, a “sister” parish that St. Thomas Aquinas Church is partnered with. Approximately one year after the earthquake, it was pretty evident that not a whole lot has been done to reconstruct many of the buildings in Haiti. This library was one of them. During our first day there, we took down the rest of the roof that was still hanging, reorganized books and furniture that were in the building, cleaned up debris, and hammered down two concrete platforms. The theme of our labor was “ROCK RECYCLING” on the other days. We moved approximately one ton of rock from the pile of broken down wall to another area in order to create a foundation for part of another building. Then, we sifted through another ton of rock in order extract sand that was later used to create cement for the cinder block for the new wall that we built. By the end of our stay, we finished the final part of the library wall.
Because my majors are in Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, I noticed many things about the Haitian work conditions. Those conditions were not good. First, because these Haitians did not have the basic tools necessary to complete their jobs in a safe manner, they had to resort to hard, physical labor in order to accomplish their tasks. Jobs that would normally take one day to do in America would take seven days to do in Haiti. Workers were standing on broken chairs to reach high corners of the wall, and all of them were working in flip flops or Crocs that were falling apart.
It breaks my heart to see people work in these kinds of conditions, and I’m sure any OSHA inspector who saw these things would have a heart attack. But even though these conditions are unacceptable in the United States, it is the only way things can get done in Haiti. The adults and children in Haiti are hard working individuals who experience the joys of life every day, even through the hardships of having to live impoverished lives. There is a ton that we Americans, including myself, can learn from them!
Going to Haiti reconfirmed what I want to do after I graduate from Purdue: to work for a non-profit organization that aids third world countries in improving their environments and qualities of living. I not only want to help in improving work conditions for people, but I specifically want to help improve the water quality in impoverished communities.
As you are reading this blog post, you are probably thinking, “Okay, great! But how can I apply this to my own life?” There are many opportunities for students to take trips like this at Purdue. Even though I did this through my church, you can Study Abroad via many other programs and schools. There are also opportunities for you to apply for Purdue Grants to get money to do a variety of international projects. I am a huge advocate of travelling, especially if you can learn something and earn course credit while in another country! So, during your time here, consider travelling abroad. I mean, you might as well when you are young, right?
Within those six days, we were able to help a few Haitian construction workers rebuild a library that was part of St. Francis Xavier church, a “sister” parish that St. Thomas Aquinas Church is partnered with. Approximately one year after the earthquake, it was pretty evident that not a whole lot has been done to reconstruct many of the buildings in Haiti. This library was one of them. During our first day there, we took down the rest of the roof that was still hanging, reorganized books and furniture that were in the building, cleaned up debris, and hammered down two concrete platforms. The theme of our labor was “ROCK RECYCLING” on the other days. We moved approximately one ton of rock from the pile of broken down wall to another area in order to create a foundation for part of another building. Then, we sifted through another ton of rock in order extract sand that was later used to create cement for the cinder block for the new wall that we built. By the end of our stay, we finished the final part of the library wall.
Because my majors are in Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, I noticed many things about the Haitian work conditions. Those conditions were not good. First, because these Haitians did not have the basic tools necessary to complete their jobs in a safe manner, they had to resort to hard, physical labor in order to accomplish their tasks. Jobs that would normally take one day to do in America would take seven days to do in Haiti. Workers were standing on broken chairs to reach high corners of the wall, and all of them were working in flip flops or Crocs that were falling apart.
It breaks my heart to see people work in these kinds of conditions, and I’m sure any OSHA inspector who saw these things would have a heart attack. But even though these conditions are unacceptable in the United States, it is the only way things can get done in Haiti. The adults and children in Haiti are hard working individuals who experience the joys of life every day, even through the hardships of having to live impoverished lives. There is a ton that we Americans, including myself, can learn from them!
Going to Haiti reconfirmed what I want to do after I graduate from Purdue: to work for a non-profit organization that aids third world countries in improving their environments and qualities of living. I not only want to help in improving work conditions for people, but I specifically want to help improve the water quality in impoverished communities.
As you are reading this blog post, you are probably thinking, “Okay, great! But how can I apply this to my own life?” There are many opportunities for students to take trips like this at Purdue. Even though I did this through my church, you can Study Abroad via many other programs and schools. There are also opportunities for you to apply for Purdue Grants to get money to do a variety of international projects. I am a huge advocate of travelling, especially if you can learn something and earn course credit while in another country! So, during your time here, consider travelling abroad. I mean, you might as well when you are young, right?
Me and Macelyn, a 10 year old girl that lives in Baudin.
Passing through a heavily polluted neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
- Genevieve
Friday, February 4, 2011
Jaci’s February Blog
I am so excited for the new semester. I just entered a new major, Public Health Promotions and I love my new classes. My favorite class thus far is Human Diseases and Disorders. It is so interesting to learn the causes and treatments for diseases. It is definitely an educational class for anyone on campus. You can learn about the diseases you may be at risk for or the consequences that may take place because of the way you treat your body now.I have been extremely busy with applying to internships. I am constantly searching the web for new opportunities. I hope to find an internship that deals with inequalities in our healthcare system. I’d like to be involved with creating a program that helps the people who do not receive good healthcare. I do not know where my career will take me, but I hope that an internship will give me the opportunities to better myself as a health educator.
Purdue recently sponsored ESPN College Gameday. They would not let us camp-out the night before for good seats because the weather conditions were dangerously cold. So, some friends and I woke up at 6am to make our trek to Mackey Arena. There was so much enthusiasm coming from all of the students, even though we all lacked sleep. I am not sure if I made it on television, but it was an awesome experience!
On a more non-academic note, I am looking counting the hours already until springbreak. I am going visit my sister in Houston, Texas. I am so excited to see the sun finally!! Last year, we went to the Houston Rodeo and it was quite the experience. I can’t wait to go again! This year, I’ll remember my cowboy boots.
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