“What should I bring” is one of those questions that has nothing short of a million answers. You should definitely bring clothing. And some notebooks. A computer is necessary. In my opinion, you don’t need a whole lot of food if you’re living in the residence halls. I’ve managed to get through this year on no more than two boxes of granola bars (if you panic though, there are always vending machines). Bring quarters for laundry, or else you’ll be the smelly kid on your floor. That’s important. Speaking of things that smell, bring a garbage can. And an air freshener (Febreeze if you want to wear your clothing more than once).

I could go on, but I think it might be easier to compile a list of the things that people oft forget. For example, frames and pictures are important for discussions like how much you miss your family pet. Other things like cellphone chargers always get forgotten at home no matter how many times you’ve written down to remember it. Bring some cash, thought if your dad is anything like mine, he’ll slip you a twenty in a handshake as you’re saying goodbye.

Move-in is still months away, but it’s better and worse than you’ll expect. Better in the sense that there’s a fair amount of help on hand from other students and Housing personnel. Worse in the sense that there are more people and broken mirrors than you’d ever expect. In my opinion, it’s every man for himself during move-in. If Grandma or your 4 year-old little brother can’t lift 50lbs then leave them at home and videochat them later. Oh, and to specify, if you’re superstitious, don’t bring mirrors to move-in, especially those cheap mirrors–they fall, shatter, get crushed, etc..

Alright, I don’t know why I’m talking about move-in. Maybe I’m just looking forward to the warmer months.

Drop me a line if you want to know more about the residence halls or move-in

It’s pretty common to hear that the best things in life are free. I imagine that whoever first said this lived on a university campus–not because tuition is cheap or anything, but because there are always all sorts of free things to be given and received. For example, I just got back from a walk around the office, and I discovered a jar full fo Sour Patch Kids. I’m not going to write exactly where I found the candy because people from Admissions read this, and I want to keep it as my secret. Sorry.

But in all honesty, a strategic trip around the quad on a Spring afternoon could nab you a closet full of apparel and a few free meals. You just have to know where to look.

When I want to feel popular, I just come into work. Seriously, the phones have been ringing off the hook, especially with questions from thos students applying for University and Presidential Scholarships. And then there’s the host of people who want to know about their application status. It’s an exciting time of year, I imagine, now that most of us are done with break and looking forward.

I’m looking forward to a few things myself this year. I want to go to Scotland over Spring Break to visit a friend of mine who is studying abroad there. I feel like everyone I know is studying abroad. I have a friend going to Spain, two going to Italy, three or four to England, and one to Scotland. It seems like such a cool experience, traveling and interacting with people of a different culture but hopefully similar worldview.

What else am I looking forward to? Well, I’m hoping to make the Dean’s list again this semester. And speaking of scholarships, I’m going to look into getting a few. I think that I’ll head over to the Scholarship Resource Office. It would be nice to read more. And to be accepted into my Graphic Design major. Then there’s the traditional getting in better shape/eating better resolution. It looks like a promising year right now . . .

But school hasn’t even started yet.

I have a tradition. I rack up late fees on library books throughout the semester, and then after finals, I walk into the library, drop them off, and run out before anybody working has time to scold me or send the ghost of Ange Milner after me. I guess that this tradition isn’t really on purpose, but it just always seems to work out this way. It’s probably because finals and the weeks preceeding them are a huge pain.

And it’s not really finals that are the bad part, or the week of finals; no, it’s that horrible week that preceedes finals. The week before finals is comparable to spending the week before Christmas at the mall–it’s filled with cheesy posters, whining friends, and a sense of survivor’s guilt. Any time that you are not working on finals, someone that you know is sure to call you and ask if you’re studying, will be studying, or would like to help them study. The library turns into a madhouse. Lecture halls begin to fill up as if those people who were supposed to be in the class the entire semester have just returned from an exotic vacation . . .

I guarantee you that during your first semester here one of your friends will break down from stress. or one of your friends will break up with her boyfriend. Regardless, you will get a tear-soaked phonecall the minute you sit down to begin studying.
And then there’s that friend who thinks that he’s the only one in the entire world with finals. “I’m really busy, you’ll have to do that without me.”

I’m glad to be done though and that’s all that matters. I’m cutting this a little short because I’m leaving work as we speak and going to my dorm. I think I’ll take a nice long nap and wait for grades to be posted next Wednesday. Best of luck to all of you recent applicants, and feel free to comment on here with any questions or comments. Maybe even a suggestion of what you would like me to write.

Hey, it’s been awhile. My neglect was nothing entirely personal, but just a lot of homework and unfinished projects. It’s been a lot of reading recently, and I feel like I’ve been doing about an average of 60 pages a day. That’s not much, and most of it’s interesting, but I just haven’t had much time to clear my head.
So hello. The semester is winding down here at the ILSTU, and it’s about time. We’re lucky here at Illinois State to have a week long Thanksgiving break–it’s much needed after 15 weeks of non-stop schooling and studying. Not to mention working. Oh, and sure there’s all sorts of things that fall in between. Tonight, I’m going with the Student Government Association to the Taste of ALAS: It’s Diversity Week here on campus, so a lot of the ethnic Registered Student Organizations are putting on programming. ALAS (Association of Latin American Students) is giving away free food, so I’m game.
In my tours, I always like to say that there’s “always something to do on campus.” I usually reference the fact that if nothing else, we’re one of the two schools in the entire world to have a collegiate circus program, Gamma Phi Circus. The University Calendar is almost always full of free events. For example, every other Thursday is free bowling and free food. There are a lot of things that happen here on campus that escape the University Calendar, though: Every once in awhile, something slightly surprising, slightly chaotic will happen and change the tone of the university for weeks to come.
Last Tuesday night happened to be one of those times. Upon Barack Obama being declared the President Elect, over 2000 students rushed the quad and participated in a historic rally here on campus. From what I’ve seen, the students–followed by the Normal police department–rallied all over the school. I think the crowd managed to surprise not only the faculty and staff, but each other, too. And while the Daily Vidette called it a “peaceful parade,” I think “surprising celebration” is a little more effective.
And while the excitement has died down a bit, you’ll still find an Obama button pinned proudly to my jacket.

I’m a pretty caring person, but yesterday when a girl slipped and spilled her cereal all over the floor, I couldn’t help but sit back and watch. It was about 7PM last night, and I had just sat down to the best dining center meal of my life. In a moment of divine inspiration, I decided to make myself a toasted roast beef sandwich. I toasted a sub roll, assembled the roast beef and provolone, grabbed a cup of french onion soup and a banana and sat down to enjoy the best meal of my life.
Other than the burned bread, it was everything that I had expected and more. And so when an inconsiderate girl accidentally dropped her cereal all over the floor right next to me–sending the cafeteria into the fray and me into a guilt trip–I couldn’t help but feel a bit cheated. The moment that the honeynut cheerios hit the floor, six people lurched out of their seats, napkins in hand, and began to help clean her mess. Soon after, a second wave of people contributed to the cause, the guys sitting with me included. About 15 people had run over to offer a helping hand while I just sat there and spectated.
And I can’t say I’m proud, but I just watched for a minute or so–taking time to chew my crisp lettuce and juicy tomatoes–before my redbird spirit kicked in and I walked over to lay a napkin on the pile.

I live and work (and go to school) on campus, which means that I breathe Illinois State 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and most holidays. I love it, really, but having such commitments on campus means that I have a lot less commitment to the real world. For example, I knew who the Student Government candidates were before the actual candidates. In terms of races, I care more about getting to the washing machine first than the current outlook on presidency. Hurricane Gustav was dwarfed by the water main break at my dorm building. If you asked me the largest conflict facing the world today, I would probably say new facebook.

Last year, realizing how out of the loop I was, I attempted to fix the problem by buying a subscription to a newspaper. It seemed easy enough: It was only 8 dollars for a 12 week subscription to the newspaper and a free t-shirt.

I was nothing less than excited. I circled the dates of the paper in my calendar and eagerly waited for my delivery (getting mail in college is comparable to finding the golden ticket in a Wonka bar). Well Sunday came and went. And then a second Sunday came and went. And finally, a month passed me by and I still knew nothing about the world around me.

Fed up spending 8 dollars on a t-shirt that didn’t even fit, I finally went down to the residence hall mail room and demanded my newspaper–not just for me, but for all those who had been swindled by a deal promising a wealth of knowledge and paper-mache. Not impressed by my righteous spirit and big words, the mail room simply pointed me to the front desk. Apparently the newspaper didn’t get delivered directly to mailboxes; instead, I would have to pick it up every morning at the front desk.

The front desk may only be 10 feet from my mailbox, but that still constituted way too much work. I quickly forgot I had even purchased the paper.

In fact, I was only reminded today when I pulled a postcard out of my mailbox begging me to resubscribe.

A friend recently said that it would be impossible to prepare somebody 100% for college, that whatever had been told to him was helpful but comparable to the first step in a journey of thousands. Something like a needle in a haystack. A molehill of a mountain. Exhausted maxims aside, I’ve compiled a list of 5 of those things that just seem to escape usual lectures.

1.  Your professor will try to help you to the best of his or her ability.
I feel like a lot of High School teachers spend a lot of time telling their students what their professors will and will not do. While a lot of these suggestions touch base, it seems to me that many of my past teachers were obsessed with making professors seem like apathetic, unrelenting machines whose tasks involved assigning homework and burning small villages. Most of my professors have been pretty laid back and have gone out of their way to prepare students for oncoming tests and exams. It’s like when you were told that you’d spend the rest of your life writing in cursive–do you even remember how to write Gs?

2. You should probably join a club. Or get involved.
Whether it’s the medieval fighting club, your favorite fraternity, or even work, it’s important to find people who share the same interests as you. Joining a club will cut down on the awkward lunches spent trying to connect to people in your classes or on your floor. If you choose to eat lunch with someone from your Calc 2 class then you’re taking the chance that your conversation will involve a math related joke (let me lay tangent to your curves), a less than satisfying discussion about the food (is this chicken or fish), or an unplanned event surprisingly interrupting your meal (my roommate all of a sudden needs moral support, see you later).

3. Take some time off.
It’s important that you reward yourself every once in awhile with an hour or two of just sitting around. If not, your stress levels will skyrocket. For example, a professor recently assigned a simple five page paper, and he even gave five weeks to do it. In effect, he has given me five weeks of mental anguish and torture. The stress is boiling behind the scenes, and mark my words, I won’t start it until two or three days before it’s due. And then I’ll be okay until midterms roll around. And then I’ll be okay until finals roll around. . . .

4. Procrastinate a bit.
Last Monday I had a little extra time, so I read ahead in the book and finished both my Tuesday and my Thursday reading assignment for my World Films class. It was the first time in my life that I had ever done anything in advance (I went to Egypt this summer and packed the day before), so I was a bit proud of myself. I aced my Tuesday quiz just as expected, but when I waltzed into Thursday’s class with an arrogant smile on my face and an eager pencil in my hand, my mind went blank. I could barely remember what I had read on Tuesday. In some cases it helps to procrastinate a bit. Really more than that, it’s important to make a schedule and attempt to stick to it. Get yourself in the swing of things–that’s pretty important.

5. Enjoy inconvenience.
I have a nice schedule that sits above my desk and keeps track of my credit hours, two jobs and various other commitments. I don’t have much time in between tasks. Sometimes I walk across the quad with my head down and try to avoid any other oncoming commitments. But last year when a girl asked me for my Poli Sci notes for a class she had missed and took 20 minutes to copy mine down, I just sighed and went on with my life thinking something about doing a good deed. Weeks later when I was campaigning for Student Government and I attempted to win over the support of a club on campus, she happened to be the president. She ultimately saved me 20 minutes by telling her members how patient I had been that day weeks before.

I’m Dan or Daniel–a sophomore English major at Illinois State University. If I can find the time (or the motivation) to apply, then I’d also like to take up a Latin or International Studies minor. I’m also considering a Poli Sci or Philosophy double major. In short, I’m a mess, but enjoying every second of being a student here at the ilstu.

Being a student means a lot of different things here. When I’m not attending class or working in the Office of Admissions or doing homework or planning a Student Government event or going to some other miscellaneous club or eating, sleeping or breathing, then I occupy my time with good books, good friends, and good coffee. There’s a good chance you’ll find me at the Coffeehouse or the Coffeehound in uptown normal.

One of my favorite aspects of Illinois State University is the quad. There are like a million trees that are perfect for climbing. Friends and I have actually gone through and assigned numerical ratings to the difficulty of trees. The north side of the quad tends to have easier climbing trees while the south side is nearly impossible.

Eventually, I’ll graduate and be an English teacher. Or a diplomat. Regardless, with the education and experiences from Illinois State, I’ll be prepared.