What did you do on Sunday?

One time, the Union board bought some Blue man group tickets and sold them to students for 10 dollars (or 5, im not sure). The only problem was that they only had around 50 tickets to give out. I lined up, was like 15th or something, forgot that I didn't have any cash, ran to the ATM, got back behind my friend who held my spot, and then got kicked out by some ape who belonged in UB. He said that I wasn't in line before and was trying to cut.

This happens a lot with the Union Board. They try to sponsor events by getting only 50-60 tickets per event. However, more than 50-60 people want to go to these things, such as six flags and imax showings. The thing is, every student has to pay an activity fee. I think it's around 65 dollars this year, but I think it went up. So, if you don't line up in time, you 65 dollars goes to other people's enjoyment. A little bit of your activites fee money goes to UB, the fencing club, the anime club, and a every other club at IIT. I say, WUTDAFUXUP?! haha.

so that was my rant.

I finally got to see the blue man group at the Briar street theater in Chicago. It was a good show, it was very different. I would tell everyone that it's more or less a comedy show, worth it's 32.50 dollar ticket value.



They make sure that the audience definitely gets involved with the show. Even if they don't pick you to go up on stage with them. They make you clap and roll down toilet paper and many other things. Great lights and music, also. You have to go see it for yourself, if you havent' already. I asked my friend, Dave, who is from Las Vegas to come with me because I had an extra ticket, but he already saw it in vegas. And I'm pretty sure that the one in vegas is just as good. :) sorry, but they didn't allow pictures inside the theater. Another good thing was that in order to get to the theater, it's only a 30-45 min train ride up north, then a 5 minute walk west and voila!

Oh, but I didn't tell you the reason why I went out. Apparently, my high school debate partner ended up at the University of Chicago (he's a freshman). We had some good times debating together, and if you ask him, you can hear about my crazy debate stories (and vandalism stories, as well). We haven't seen each other since I left my high school in los angeles, and so we decided to hang out.

Afterwards, we went to a diner in Belmont, called Clarks. It's just your standard ole diner. Nothing special. We caught up with each other and reminisced about the good old days. Another friend from high school was there too, but he goes to Loyola University of Chicago. My friend was telling me about how the university of chicago doesn't give out merit scholarships, so he's stuck paying the 50k+ tuition and room and board stuff. The only people who get scholarships are those who qualify for need based stuff. But Paul (that's his name) doesn't even come close to getting a need based scholarship. His parents own one of the biggest funeral homes in Pasadena. And as he puts it, "people are just DYING to go there" hahaa. what a loser.

That's the good thing about IIT. 95% of all students are on some sort of financial aid, whether it be need based or merit based. We have tons of different scholarships ranging from around 500-full tuition, the same goes for transfer students. When I was applying to IIT, they gave me like 3 different scholarship options. Of course I chose the BS/MD scholarship. But a lot of kids I know have what is called a Heald scholarship, which ranges from 5-12k a year (or something like that) and the camras scholars get at least 1/2 tuition. That's the thing, we all know college tuition is going up. And if you're looking at a big private school, you're going to have to spend at least 30-35 grand. IIT has slashed prices so now we're just under 25k. But sometimes that 5k makes a huge difference. You don't have to spend a fortune to get a good education, and more importantly, a good job.

Eating out.

It's saturday night and I'm here to tell you about it.

To me, there's no such a thing as a saturday morning. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one who also thinks so. My day usually starts at around a 12-12:30pm. I usually take a 30 minute shower, and just lounge around until I feel up to doing something.

I lounged around until 1:30 and then my girlfriend called me and asked if I wanted to go to the berghoff.

If you haven't heard of the berghoff, it's a famous old german restaurant in downtown chicago, known for it's (root)beer and sausages.

I had walked past the berghoff a few times on weekend nights and it's usually jammed packed with tourists and locals. I have always wondered what the big deal was.

So on this saturday afternoon, I expect that they're isn't going to be much people there, so I say sure. I'm the type of person who hates going to crowded restaurants. When I was a freshman, I would go to the cafeteria right as it opened, just to avoid the lines. So I try to hurry up, get on the train as fast as I can.

now here's my review:

Prompt seating awaits you on a slow early saturday afternoon. After being greeted by a friendly, accent filled waiter, dry slices of rye bread and crackers were brought to our table. These unsatisfying replacements of dinner rolls are up to par with supermarket standards. Our first course was a round of mini bratwurst and knockwurst with sauerkraut and german potato salad. Interesting if eaten alone, tasty if eaten together. Overall, delictable, and left us wanting more.

geesh, i can't write like that anymore, it's taking a lot out of me.

So yeah, the mini sausages were interesting. But when it came time to ordering, I was at odds. I have never had authentic german sausages before. Yeah, i've head the johnsonville brats before, but I'm pretty sure that the germans can do it better. haha.

I was deciding between Jager Schnitzel (pork glazed in jagermeister!) and the sausage trio (comes w/ bratwurst, knockwurst, and smoked thuringer). I ended up getting the sausage fest lol, my girlfriend getting the weiner schnitzel. no, this guy:

run away hot dog!

weinerschnitzel is actually breaded veal.

(this came with vegetables and thick potato chips)

look it up at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnitzel

(mine came with marinated artichoke hearts)

All in all, the food was pretty good. But not like good pretty good, more like eh pretty good. But I do suggest that you go try it if you're ever in chicago. I hear that they have great beer, I'd get one, but the law says that I can't just yet. A little on the pricey side (total+tip=$44), but def try this place out. It's still standing for a reason. haha

to add onto more eating out. my roommates friend from vanderbilt drove up (in his new bmw 335i) and we hung out and had lots of fun. That night, we ended up going to benihanas. We also pretended that it was my roommate's birthday. I was scared, because I thought he was going to blow the joke and have the waiters and waitresses get angry at us. But he kept his cool.

In clockwise direction starting from the left. Albert (my roommate's good friend), Dave (my friend from Las Vegas), Me (as awesome as ever), Evan (meh).

Afterwards, we probably drove to 6 different suburbs to see "the bourne ultimatum" (which too is awesome). I didn't really like the first one. The second one was better. This was was much much better. No great plot line to follow, just intense action scenes. Go see it! Yeah, it's been out there for a while, as we were the only people in the theater. But I'm glad I saw that, and not "shoot em up" (i'll see that eventually). As for me, I'm not the kind of guy who is into all those thinking type movies (eternal sunshine, memento, etc.) I can understand them if I want to, but I don't feel the need to actually go through the trouble. My laziness allows me to enjoy the fast and the furious over and over and over again. I love hollywood blockbusters where there's countless and unnecessary killing and fighting. If you want to think, maybe you should just go read a book. that's my motto. lol

"If it's a shirt you wear with a full t-shirt underneath, it takes 3-4 weeks for it to be considered dirty."

Fridays for me are just a day to get get chores done, like shopping for food, doing laundry, and classes. Luckily for me, I only have one class (genetics) from 10 am to 11 am. So it's a quickie.

I also had to go to work in the admission office. Things were kinda slow, since most of the admission counselors went on a trip to Austin, TX for a conference to enhance their "professional development". There were no tours, no special assignments, so I found myself answering phone calls most of the day. We did get lunch from Panera, so that's a plus. Connie, the office manager (the big cheese) put it nicely. "You may not get paid a lot, but you do get the perks". Which is true. Key chains, nalgene bottles, you name it.

After work, my roommate and I had to do our monthly shopping trip to costco. This time we just hit under the $500 dollar mark. But that's because we waste our money on the easy made frozen stuff like taquitos, chicken dinosaurs (chicken nuggets in the shapes of various dinosaurs), lasagna, etc. We buy lots of pasta and frozen meat, since they are easy to cook. But probably the biggest chunk out of our budget (haha, we don't have a budget, we just buy whatever we want) were the disposables, plastic forks, spoons, plates, and cups. My roommate and I hate doing the dishes, so we just buy disposable. We were actually thinking of getting a portable dishwasher, but plans fell through. I kinda miss the meal plan.

Our freezer after costco

The current IIT meal plans are as follows:

• 19 Plan Allows students 19 meals in a 7 day period, includes $25 in bonus points each semester and Transferability in Center Court.-this cost $4280
  

• 14 Plan Allows students 14 meals in a 7 day period, includes $125 in bonus points each semester and Transferability in Center Court.-this costs $4068.
  

Everytime you swipe your card to get into the cafeteria, you're in foodland. You can eat as much as you want, whatever you want, you just have to get back into line. But it's good to mix it up. You don't want to eat 3 burgers in one sitting. You don't have to prepare anything, and you don't have to clean up. I guess the only problem is that the cafeteria has certain hours of operation, but iit craftily plans the academic schedules accordingly.

As we were making it to the checkout line, we saw the new Xbox 360 halo edition and were contemplating on getting that instead of buying food, plans for that fell through as well. We already have a PS3, and other than halo, the only other game we'd want to play is guitar hero 3, which comes out later in october.

I was supposed to do laundry. I haven't done laundry in about 2 weeks. Which is alright, not too bad, but I am running low on underwear and socks.

I'm hungry

So what do you eat when you're extremely hungry and low on cash.

Well if you have 12 bucks, you can eat for the whole day, and I'm not talking about ramen.


I was hungry thursday night and couldn't find anything good to eat in the fridge. So I decide to order out.

I call one of my friends and ask him to recommend a good place to order out where I can get a lot of grub for cheap. That's when he told me about pancho's. Pancho's is a mexican restaurant about 15 minutes away from campus. They offer a 17 inch burrito for only 12 dollars. And it comes with lettuce, beans, cheese, tomatoes, and your choice of either pork, ground beef, steak, or chicken. I'm a little wary at this point, because 17 inches is pretty big, but you know restaurants these days, they tell you 'oh yeah! 1/2 a pound of mean!' (yeah, total bs). But I'm hungry and decide to take a chance. I go online and search their menu, you know, to get a feel for the food. I give them a call and a lady answers with a heavy spanish accent and I ask her about the burrito.

"Panchos, how can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm wondering about the 17 inch burrito?"

"Yes, it is 17 inches and comes with your choice of meat"

"Ok, but relative to other burritos, how big is it?" (I want an answer that's like, 'oh, its about 3 burritos put together)

"It's is 17 inches, like a big burrito"

At this point I'm like, 'oh man'. But I give up and order it.


An hour later, I get a call from the delivery man telling me he's arrived. I go out and see him carrying my huge burrito in two bags stapled together. I was excited.

But basically, it is like 2.5-3 chipotle burritos put together. But it has more of authentic feel to it. (and it tastes much better) It was dripping in sauce and oil and man, I ate like a king. Obviously I couldn't finish it (If you order this at the restaurant and finish it, it's free!). And ate it for breakfast and lunch the next day. (yes, burritos for breakfast!)

I love how I put the dollar there for reference.


This is what I had for dessert, chocolate and strawberry ice cream+lucky charms. My roommate said it looked disgusting. But it's basically cold cereal, extra cold, right? He tried it and liked it. So he can shove it. I am a genius.

A night at the roxy

So I find myself with nothing to do on a saturday evening with my girlfriend and my roommate. But then I realize that there's a homecoming dance that night. I was kind of hesitant to go because of the homecoming dance last year. Last year, the homecoming dance was more or less a high school dance where most people dressed up in formal wear and had dates and everything. The problem was that only about 50 people showed up, which was probably due to the fact that they charged either 5 to 10 dollars (i can't remember exactly). For college events, it's important to understand that money makes a big difference. If an event costs money, let's say 5 dollars, you're probably only going to get about 1/8 of the amount of people that would show up if it were free (but probably more like 1/10, or maybe less). To sum it up, few people and fees.

This time, the dance was free. phew. but even better, UB did a better job of promoting the dance by saying that it wasn't going to be a normal dance. It was going to be more of a club environment. I know that the only difference is that you don't have many people sitting at huge round tables at clubs. But apparently it makes a huge difference. That, plus glowsticks.

gettin my freak on?

The pritzker club is a small dining area that's enclosed by large walls and translucent glass, so it's pretty tight. Put a dj and some lights and it's a perfect club. Free food was upstairs. So the people who wanted to dance weren't discouraged by the people who didn't want to. But I must say, it was packed on the dance floor. The food wasn't too bad either. There was bruschetta, meatballs, and some breaded chicken bites (not sure what they actually were, but I ate a lot of em).

I must say good job to the UB and all the others that sponsored this dance.

It's CARNAVAL!

a homecoming carnival. every school needs one


no event is an "event" without free t-shirts

Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man!!!

Red bull alternative?

admission counselors are people, too.

Star Wars Kid times 2

Lisa and Beth (student ambassadors) do what they do best

carny food

asian people doing what they do best

whew! what a way to end a week. Things were slow at the office on friday, and people were getting really tired. By 3:30 pm, everyone just wanted to go home. It was just a long week. After realizing that I have two tests the following week (biochem and genetics), I just wanted to take a weekend breather and not worry about anything. I ended my day at the office talking to Rebecca Fortier (one of the more friendlier admission counselors, haha just kidding) about ideas for the next camras/preview weekends. Now here's something to talk about.

IIT has a bunch of sweet scholarships such as the Heald and Camras scholarship. Both which mean lot's of free money. The camras scholarships, however, usually give more money to students, and IIT likes to give out a lot of them. Most everyone I know has a scholarship, and most of those people have camras scholarships which give them a range from something like half to full tuition including room and board. All you need to do to apply is submit your application before the camras deadline, which is Jan 2, 2006. If you do so, you'll be considered f/ the scholarship, and if you are considered, you just have to submit an extra essay and a resume then come to IIT for an interview. (all necessary info is on the IIT website).

Now, students who are invited to interview also have the option of being hosted by a current student of IIT. this basically means getting your own private tour guide. IIT hosts a lot of events during camras week so the students can get a feel for the campus. Even the cafeteria spices up it's recipes to impress. Camras interviewees also get a special hosted dinner (or something of equivalent value), and I'm pretty sure they get free bowling/pool table time/food at the bog, since it reopened. They also spend the night in the room of an IIT student. All camras interviewees are asked to bring a sleeping bag. I was one of the few hosts who lived in SSV south last semester, so my kid got a pretty sweet couch. (so I suggest that you make a special request that I host you. I also have a fridge stocked full of goodies that'll make that wicked lady's gingerbread house taste like brussel sprouts.)

But marc, what happens if I don't get a camras interview invite? Don't worry, IIT also hosts a "preview weekend" where you can come on campus for a weekend and spend some time at IIT in april. So if you're still deciding on where to send your commitment deposits (usu. by sometime in MAY), you can make sure IIT isn't the right place for you. Again, IIT hosts many fun and exciting events during the preview weekend, so try not to miss this one if you can. If you have more questions about these events, check on the admissions web site, or give us a call (our number is also on the website). We're really nice people and love scheduling for these events.

So, moving on, thank goodness for homecoming week, hosted by UB and many of the sororities/frats. Because friday was CARNAVAL! (actually just plain 'carnival', i just like to say "carnaval!" with a spanish accent). There were rides set up in the parking lot behind SSV and in the quad (the area with all the greek houses), not actually rides, but things to do. There was a moonbounce, a huge inflatable climbing wall, tron (moonbounce+laser tag), a skydiving thing, and a few more attractions. Nothing too high tech, just some good ole' cheap carney fun.

The best part of the carnival, obviously, was the free food. All you could eat hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, nachos, corn on the cob, popcorn, ice cream, and soda. Free t-shirts were given out, but they only had 400 of them. By the time I got there (which was 15 minutes after the start time), they only had a handful of xl shirts left. But like any college student, I took one. Even my roommate, who's a small got an xl.

I guess the only problem with the carnival was the waiver line. Before any student could do anything (I'm guessing eating the food also haha) he/she had to wait in a 45 minute line to sign a release waiver saying that nobody is responsible if you get hurt. This obviously could have used a little more planning.

For more pics, click here.

You know you're in a tech school when

So yesterday was talk like a pirate day. I didn't learn that until I arrived to my biochemistry class and the professor yelled "AAARRRGGHH, the protein structure can determine it's function". He even brought in a wooden parrot. He talked like that for about 5 minutes. No one was laughing with him or even at him.

My friend leans over to me and says, "you know, its rude not to laugh when somebody tries to do something funny (jokingly)." I tell him, "well, how come you're not laughing?" We both start laughing and the professor both points to us and says, "that's the spirit!".

Other than that, it's been a pretty busy week. I had a physics test on monday, and the mean score was a 65, which basically means the iit physics dept means business. On tuesday, I came in right before the office of admissions closed and started another ambassador task. I now call people who have applied for either the fall 2008 semester or as a transfer student. I'm not sure what the job is called, but for now, I'm just going to call it, "telemarketer" haha. Yeah, I mean I get a computer w/ names and numbers, and call them to see if they have any questions about iit. I also inform them of upcoming events such as our FALL OPEN HOUSE on MONDAY OCTOBER 8 (COLUMBUS DAY). Events such as these are important for people to come and see the campus and meet with admission counselors. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, YOU GET LOTS AND TONS OF FREE STUFF! OMFGROFL! FREE STUFF! CAPS LOCK! you get the point.

If you would like to schedule an appointment w/ a counselor on that day, please call the office of admissions as 312 567 3025. -end plug.

On a more random note, I thought that this was funny. (click to enlarge)

Homecoming week is also going on, and there are a bunch of events that all the students can participate in.

http://www.unionboardiit.com/


There's going to be a carnival, volleyball game, scavenger hunt, and more things like that. Yesterday, there was a lip sync competition. I missed that, but I'm definitely going to the other events.

This was a picture from last year's homecoming game. Notice the guy in the bottom right. I guess he's never seen a camera before. The guy in the middle, well, all I can say is that he's a student ambassador as well.

Friday the 13th! nevermind its the 14th.

Like I said before, I'm from california. So why come to chicago? Well, I was tired of the drama and yuppies. Haha, not really. I just wanted to see someplace new. My family is in LA, I'm in Chicago, and my brother is in New York, so we're halfway there in taking over the country.

Over the summer, I worked for reslife again as a Conference housing assistant. It's just an RA+doorguard position where you get free housing and you get paid $7 an hour. I usually worked 40 hours a week for 8 weeks, so I made some money.

I went home for a couple of weeks for my sister's wedding. I'll post some pictures later. I took my girlfriend with me as an excuse to do the touristy things I never did when I lived in LA. I went to the hollywood walk of fame, guiness world record museum, the beach, and many other places I haven't been to in a while. I also went to the wax museum where they have a wide variety of movie stars like jackie chan and marilyn monroe and important historical figures, like jesus, bill clinton, and arnold schwarzenegger (actor/historical figure).

This is me telling jesus a secret. His nosy apostles couldn't resist.

LA and Chicago have a lot in common, being major cities and all. The only problem in LA is that you can't get anywhere without a car. I probably spent around $300 dollars in gas money for those two weeks. Here in chicago, you gets your Upass for about $82 a semester which is unlimited public transportation. Yeah, you gotta wait for the bus and trains, but chicago is more compact and you're able to get around anywhere just as long as you give yourself enough time.

The metra, a train that runs from the city to suburbs of chicago, is also very efficient. Whether you want to go home or go to Ceci's pizza buffet (unlimited pizza for 5 dollars) (the closest one is in a suburb of chicago). It's pretty cheap on weekends when an unlimited pass is only $5.

Public transportation is perfect for any college student because you're able to go with large groups of friends and you can mingle and not worry about who the designated driver is.

Another thing to note is that people in the city walk fast. Back in california, I used to only walk while playing golf, and that's a slow saunter. Just try to walk faster. Practice with a treadmill or something. I got made fun of because my normal walking pace is a lot slower of everyone else's. You don't want to get left behind.

Thirsty Thursday?

Alright, so maybe this post has nothing to do with drinking on thursdays. It's been a rough week especially because most of my classes had homework. It's about that time in the semester when you're just getting settled in and you have tests right around the corner. I have a physics test on Monday, but I'm not too worried about it.

So I guess I'll talk about reslife?

Basically, every college that has a dorm or 'residence hall' (that's what we're officially supposed to call it now) has an office that deals with the students who live there. Residence Life usually works hand in hand with "Housing", and together they do their best to keep residents (students) happy. But reslife essentially deals with Resident advisors (RA's), Learning assistants (LA's), and doorguards. Here at iit we have 2 main residence halls, MSV and SSV. MSV is the traditional style dorms while SSV has a suite setup. 2 suites each share a bathroom (so its a semi private bath). In MSV, there are 6 halls (almost like 6 separate buildings, which each have 4 floors) and in SSV there are 2 Suite style buildings (SSV North and SSV Middle) (no halls, but floors), and one that's setup w/ apartments(that's SSV South) (but freshman need not worry about those because you can only get them when you're at least a sophmore). I hope I didn't lose you.

So we have 24 RA's in MSV and about 10 RA's in SSV (i think) RA's on freshman floors do a lot of activity so that all the freshman get together. I lived in MSV my freshman year and it was pretty good. Our RA was cool, never really got on our cases about messing around on our floor, like playing loud music or something. Every so often our RA would ask us if we wanted to do something, but it was hard getting most people on our floor to do something. Most of us were lazy and/or decided that the events weren't that great. So instead, we made our own events.

I took the initiative on this one. I took a picture and blew it up and "rasterbated" it (it basically makes your picture in the form of dots. Google "rasterbater" for more info. I must have printed out 100 sheets or something and taped it up on the wall of our floor with the help of a bunch of other people on our floor. I got enough people to help out that our RA counted the event as a "floor activity".

It was so good, I even got it on collegehumor. They put a funny tag on it and everything.




http://www.collegehumor.com/picture:1657724


Other than that, RA's get called to unlock doors for students who get locked out, handle emergency situations, settle petty conflicts, etc.

We also have what you call LA's which are learning assistants. On the floors where freshman are living, there's a learning assistant who is essentially a middleman for the freshman and the professors. It's interesting because most iit professors are concerned about the freshman in their classes. So if a student misses a bunch of classes or isn't doing as well as he/she could be doing, then the prof emails the LA and the LA gets in touch with the student. One of my good friends wasn't doing so well in chemistry and the LA had a meeting with him just to make sure he was ok, and the LA got him some extra credit assignments. So it's good. I made the mistake of thinking an LA was like a tutor, and when I came to him for hw help, it was a nogo.

If you work as a RA, you get your housing and meal plan paid for. If you work as an LA, you just get your housing paid for. But if you ask me, I'd rather just be an LA. There's barely any work involved, and you don't need many skills to be one. I'm pretty sure that the only requirements are that you live on campus and have at least a 3.0 gpa.

Now the doorguard. To sum it up, you sit at a desk, say hi to people and make sure that they have their id's. IIT is serious about its security and they like to track every single move you make :). In SSV, you need to scan your id to open the front door, scan your id at the front desk, insert your id to enter a side door, scan your id to use the elevator, and use your id to get into your room. In MSV, you just need to scan your id at the front door to get in and at the front desk.

Now things may happen every once in a while where you have to actually do a job. You have to answer the phone is somebody wants to talk to john doe in north hall room 202. You have to make sure visitors are signed in properly, take their id's, and give them back when they check out. When you're not doing that, which is 96% of the time, you could be doing your homework, facebooking, or even watch a movie on your laptop. And heck, why not get paid minimum wage to do so? Ever since i've been doorguarding, my grades have improved, i've met a lot of people, and even hassled people that i don't like. You don't want to mess with a doorguard, trust me. So, always be nice to them and make sure you have your id's.

All types of people become doorguards, grad students, undergrads, architecture students, engineering students, athletes, of all race, gender, color, and creed. Some of the most well known and liked people are doorguards. Other than me, there's Brandon Lloyd, student body president. I'm sure there's a bunch more.

Brandon Lloyd, not every president is a rich oil tycoon.

You know you're in college when

toucan sam

gorilla picking his nose

Jackie getting us lost

The giraffes

Advertisment @ Union station

Bison

It has been an interesting past couple of days with a bunch of things going on.

My girlfriend and I went to the Brookfield zoo on sunday. The bookfield zoo is the zoo to go to in Illinois. In every state they have zoos in almost all of the big cities, but there is only one zoo zoo, if you know what I mean. Like in california, we have the los angeles city zoo, but everyone knows about the San Diego zoo (where they have the most amount of animals, including pandas). Haha, I just looked up "zoos in illinois", and there are only 3! All in all, it took us about an hour and a half to get to the zoo, with minimal walking. We took the El (elevated train), walked a couple of blocks to union station, and took a metra train to the "zoo stop" and then walked about a quarter mile to the zoo. With the upass, the El was free. We had to get metra weekend passes at $5 a piece (which is good for the entire weekend anywhere on a metra train). And the zoo was $10 per person. We got 3 of those plastic animal molds (3 @ $1.50 each) and a lemon freeze ($3.50). $28 well spent.

http://www.officialusa.com/stateguides/zoos/illinois.html

I just finished my physics homework which took me a good hour. Most (but I'm pretty sure that all) physics professors use an online site where homework is electronically generated. We use 'wileyplus' which is connected to the "halliday/resnick/walker: fundamentals of physics 7th edition", so the homework problems online are basically the same ones from the book, just with different values. It was sweet because the professor enabled us to look at the answer to the online questions, so I could have been done in 2 minutes. But we have a test next monday and it's always good to know how to actually do it.

I also had physics (btw I'm taking electricity and magnetism) today. The reason why I'm taking a physics 2 class in my 3rd year is that I've just been putting it off. I've heard some scary stories about iit physics professors. You know, the one's that can't teach the material that's way too hard, etc. When I signed up for this physics class, I signed up for the physics prof. who my friends said was the 'least worst'. But as the semester rolled around, the prof. name was replaced by a "TBA" (which means that they're not sure who's going to be teaching the actual class just yet), so I was worried. But when I walked into the first class, the prof. was talking to people and smiling. Turns out, he's a great prof. He goes slowly w/ the materials, is very understanding, and even comes to labs and recitations (lab periods where you take quizzes and go over the homework/get help w/ material, etc. and helps us out. And he's a funny guy.

One of his jokes was (something like), "If the velocity of a wave on a string is 679 m/s, the wavelength is .12 m, what is (a) frequency of the wave and (b) the color.

and when we were discussing pendulums, he brought a bowling ball attached to a chain. We went outside and he tied it to a branch on a tree. And then he asked us some questions on pendulums, swung the ball a couple of times and yadda yadda. Then he took a cinderblock out of his bag and placed it in the way of the bowling ball and proceeded to demonstrate "application of physics". He then offered us extra credit if we'd like to demonstrate whether or not the ball would crack our heads.

Ok, now on the the non academic part of college life at iit. I currently live in an SSV (state street villiage) apartments. These apartments are available in 2-6 bedroom apartments, single studios, and single bedrooms, all ranging from $10,000-about $14,000 per academic year (about 10 months). I live in a 2 bedroom apartment with Evan, my roommate. It has two separate bedrooms (each with our own doors, which is good because I'm slightly paranoid about my things lol) a spacious bathroom (which is handicap accessible and comes with one of those removable shower heads if you're feeling kinky), two sinks which are outside the bathroom (which is good because I don't have to wait to brush my teeth if Evan is in the shower or on the can, a fully equipped kitchen, and a fully furnished living room (the bedrooms are furnished too).

I took a few pictures of our room. I didn't take any pictures of my bedroom because it's dirty, and I don't want to give you guys the wrong impression of me heh.

These are our bathroom sinks. Notice the implementation of the foreman grill. We actually had steaks tonight, but we couldn't find the catch that all the fat drips into, so my roommate ingeniously put it on top of the sink. I love how he left the salt and pepper shakers right next to it.

This is our living room. It came with the couches and coffee tables. You can see our 50" dlp 1080p hd tv and our rope light palm tree. Evan paid for the tv, I paid for the tree.

This is our "sugar stash" complete with reese's, candy canes, and sugar.

This is our "freezer stash" haha. No, it's just the contents of our freezer. It has potstickers, chicken, hamburgers, ice, ice cream, freeze pops, burritos, lasagna, frozen lemonade concentrate, and on the door (not shown) are corn dogs and crab cakes.

We're probably in the same boat right now

I know I told you I'm a student ambassador for the office of admissions, but what I didn't tell you was that I only started working as an ambassador. I was hired last semester based upon my good looks and ability to make the ladies swoon, but didn't start actually working until a couple of weeks ago. So far, I've learned how to make coffee, clean cabinets, and make appointments for prospective students, nothing too bad (I mean, somebody has to do it, right?)

So I get an email a few nights ago about Saturday visits. Every few weeks, the office of undergrad admissions opens it doors at 9 in the morning to allow prospective students (who are usually busy in school or at work) to get a chance to take a tour of the campus and attend a fun presentation. I suggest that even the slightly interested call in or make an online appointment for a tour. But try to make it on a saturday, we give out lots of free snacks, candy and water, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. The admissions office goes all out and gets the high end retail loora doones, snackwells, and oreos. Better yet, we get the coffee, tea, and water for you. You also get a bunch of free stuff, like iit labeled pens and chapstick. Now if you make an appointment with an admission counselor, you can even get a free t-shirt and goodie bag.

But today, I shadowed a tour (of about 5 students and 7 parents). As a new ambassador, I have to shadow at least 3 tours and complete something like a "test tour" before I actually get to be a full fledged tour guide. But as a shadow, I get to input extra information that the official tour guide may leave out (or maybe unaware of, esp. things regarding molecular biochem and biophysics). Also, I can relay info to people in the back of the group who may have missed what the tour guide said and wait for people if they have to go to the bathroom and help them catch up.

I was surprised, because the official tour guide for the group (Beth, a fellow student ambassador) was telling the group things I haven't heard of. For example, did you know that SSV (one of our on campus housing residence halls) was voted one of the best dorms in the country. And that we have over 100 student organizations. And that if you have a car, parking for the entire academic year is only $300 I know, I know, it sounds like I'm actually trying to sell the school, but seriously, it's pretty cool.

After the tour, we got back to the office and talked with some of the parents and answered some more of their personal questions. I was able to talk with some of the students and found out that most of them are interested in either our architecture program and our mechanical/aerospace engineering program. The associate VP of admissions, Gerald Doyle also showed up and was able to answer questions and gave his cards to the parents, something you can't get at many other colleges.

Well that's it for today, but I have lots of other things to talk about. Hopefully I'll talk about them, but if I don't, please remind me via the comments.

future things to talk about-

Working for the office of resident life (and finding work)
Classes
Student organizations
Things to do outside classes
Chicago
People @iit/Living at the dorms/parties

First impressions are everything.

My name is Marc and I am a third year Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics student here at iit. I am originally from Altadena, California (if you don't know, it's right next to Pasadena, and if you don't know where that is, it's right next to Los Angeles).

I am doing that whole pre-med mumbo jumbo because I plan to go to medical school sometime after I graduate. Actually, I have a scholarship here at iit where I get about half tuition and I'm guaranteed admission to the Rosalind Franklin Medical University (located in North Chicago, which isn't actually in Chicago, it's another city about an hour north of Chicago) just as long as I keep a 3.25 cumulative gpa which is actually a pretty sweet deal. I'll talk about this later.

Like I said, I'm from southern california where the weather is warm and sunny 98% of the time. I have been playing golf since I was about 9 or 10 years (I am 20 now) and try to play as often as I can here in chicago. I started playing the guitar last summer, and I'm still working on it.

At iit, I'm not as involved as much as I would like to be, but that's due to a disorder I have. It's very common, but many people are too ashamed to seek attention. According to the New York times, 'laziness' affects up to 73% of students per year and is on the upward climb. But when I feel like doing stuff, I can become heavily involved. Last year, I started Debate@IIT, a debate club which is going kinda slow because of funding issues. I plan on starting a mock trial club here too, and I've heard from my brother who is a student at NYU, that it's not hard to do so because all you have to do is join an association and they give you all the materials you need for a small fee. At larger universities, they have entire departments dedicated for debate. So you see it'll be an interesting feat.

Right now, I am working as a student ambassador for the office of undergraduate admissions. It's a pretty sweet gig. I get to give tours to students, talk to them and give them the low down. Previously, I worked for the office of resident life where I was a 'doorguard': noun [dohr-gahrd] deriv. latin "doorgardis"-person who sits at front desk in resident halls permitting those with iit id's to enter. That was a pretty sweet gig too, it didn't require much effort, and you could do your homework when you were working.

But me, I'm always on the lookout for bigger and better things.

wait marc, if that's true, then why iit?

don't worry, the answer will come soon enough.

oh, and if you have any questions/comments, just use the comment thing and i'll respond in a future post or by email.