Living With Diabetes

When I was nine years old, I got sick. It started like a cold, and then seemed like the flu, and then I couldn’t walk anymore. This went on for about a month before my parents decided to bring me to the doctor. There, they called an ambulance and rushed me 40 minutes away to the children’s specialty hospital.

I was diagnosed with Type I Juvenile Diabetes. Not to be confused with Type II Adult On-set Diabetes. (Something people don’t typically know the difference between, which can lead to offensive assumptions.)

A pancreas is the organ that produces the hormone insulin. Insulin breaks down food and turns it into energy when you eat carbohydrates. In Juvenile Diabetes, (called that because typically it happens before adulthood) the body thinks the pancreas is a foreign object and kills all the cells that produce insulin. There is no way to prevent it from happening, and typically it is genetic.

So what does that mean?

Diabetics have to test their blood glucose level, as well as take insulin injections daily. As for me, I check my blood and take an injection every time I eat any food, as well as after I wake up, and before I go to sleep. I always have to count how many carbs I eat, but after ten years, its so natural to me I barely even have to think about it anymore.

When I got to school, my first concern was finding a pharmacy to fill my prescriptions, finding a local doctor I can go to (once every 3 months!) and making sure that I had everything I needed in Milwaukee to survive. I’ve gotten used to all of that, but with all the new changes, it has brought up new problems. One of the hardest things for me is telling people I have diabetes. It’s not something I’m ashamed of, but how do you just put that out there? It’s not usually something that just comes up in conversation all the time. People that don’t know me well tend to treat me differently once they find out. Such as what advice they can give me to help.

A lot of people have told me it’s my fault for getting diabetes. I should have eaten less sugar, or played outside more at recess. Someone in my family once told me that if I had gone to church more this would have never happened. But the truth of the matter is there is nothing I could have done to prevent it.

Things have continually gotten easier over time but it would be nice to meet some other diabetics who are going through the same thing here at UWM.

Famous people with Juvenile Diabetes.

-2010 American Idol runner up Crystal Bowersox

-Nick Jonas

-Halle Berry

-Bret Michaels

*Insert Witty Title Here*

Well another week has gone by and I'm still standing. I hope everyone else can say the same in some way. Life has been going pretty smooth all around for me, and I can't complain about it. I've been hanging out with a good group of people in our lounge. If you live in Riverview, you know which one it is, if not come and find us. We end up watching multiple movies every night, so that's always entertaining. To name a few we've watched The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Kill Bill Vol. 1, and Anchorman. I know we've watched more than that, but those are the ones that I can pull off the top of my head right now. We went to Get Him to the Greek last night as a floor with our RA. I have to say, it was pretty funny. I'd enjoyed Russell Brand as Aldous Snow in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and I enjoyed him this time just as much.

Also, there's been a petition going around the building here to do something about the empty lot that's in front of Riverview. They're trying to get a green space of some sort, but just about anything would be appreciated. A friend of mine wants a giant water slide going out there. It'd be nice, but impracticable in the winter.

I'd also like to stress the importance of watching out for yourself and others. I was taking a walk a few nights ago and I was rounding the corner of North and Oakland when a random woman started walking alongside me. She didn't seem quite right in my opinion so I ignored her, but kept an eye on her. She asked me to walk her to the gas station multiple times, to which I gave the worst reply ever, "Sorry. I gotta go do something." She was obviously flustered about it, and I have no idea of whether she really did just want someone to walk her to the gas station or something else. I ended up walking the final five or so minutes back paying close attention to who was behind me. You never know what will happen.

Have a great time everybody.

-Ryan

Jenna- A New Addition to My Family

Hi all,
How are you? I'm doing great!! I headed back home this weekend for my mom's surprise late wedding shower. It was amazing. She really had no clue! I also got to meet my new baby sister. Her name is Mia Faith and she was born on Thursday the 23rd at 10:24 PM. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 inches long. She is the most perfect thing I have ever seen in my life! I held her for so long on Saturday and Sunday. I even went to the store at 12:30 AM and bought her clothes. :] She definitely has a good crew looking out for her.

I got my new tattoo!! Surprisingly it didn't hurt as much as my wrist one! I probably could have fallen asleep! I will post a picture of it on here. I'm not sure about any other people, but I have a busy week ahead of me! Lots of papers, assignments, and tests. I'm just looking forward to going home this weekend and seeing Mia and my best friend. I hadn't seen my mom in 3 weeks, so it was nice to be able to spend a little time with her. I'm hoping to spend some more time with her this upcoming weekend.

Does anyone have studying tips? I've been finding out what works well for myself, but I'm wondering if any of you guys have something to share with our readers that would help them succeed this year. If so, please comment!!

Chaos back home

This morning I received a blurry picture text from my mom. I initially thought it was some random picture of road construction. No, this was a picture a huge hole in the main street of my hometown near Rochester MN.

I'm still hazy on the details, but it sounds like water levels got so high that the water took out 60' of the bridge. The movement of water over the dam left several houses underwater completely. Thankfully my house is far enough away that it was left undamaged.

This particular bridge is necessary for getting from one part of town to the other, as well as onto the highway. But as fate would have it the lake under the highway is also connected to this dam and the water level has risen to the top of those bridges. Those bridges are enormous, it's mind boggling to imagine the water that high. That entire chunk of the highway has been closed indefinitely. 20 miles south of this area the same highway becomes 4 lanes each direction, closing it off is a huge deal. People commute from Rochester to the Twin Cites on this highway everyday, school buses take it, everyone takes it.

And a neighboring small town, where I went to school K-7th grade, is in even worse shape from the sounds of it. I haven't heard any specific details though.

Chaos, to say the least. Here are a few more pictures of my hometown that my dad emailed-

Side view of the bridge as water takes large chunks of land from alongside the river.

That is our fire department building, usually there are no boats...

Our yard/driveway. Sigh. Looks like my parents are only driving 4-wheel vehicles now...

See that yellow thing by the patch of grass on the left? That's a street sign. See that white thing in front of the brown thing in the middle back? That is a mini van in front of what I think was a two story house.

It's hard for me to picture all this destruction when the weather here in Milwaukee has been so beautiful and sunny. Well, for the most part anyway. I'd really like to see this all myself, but I'm sure it'll all be fixed by Thanksgiving.

It's been a pretty dramatic day, but hey, at least everyone back home is safe and sound :-) oh, and my Italian test went really well too!

Arrivederci,

Tina

The College Experience:What's Yours Going to be Like?

Hey, Everyone! It's Connie. Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. If you're dying to know, I've been busy with school, work, etc. I've also been busy making alot of observations; observations about students, observations about myself, and observations about UWM. So, I started thinking, "What do students, myself, and UWM have in common?" The answer: We're all moving forward toward something. Hopefully something bigger and better than ourselves. But, it seems in all the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we occasionally forget why we are here. Why am I here? Well, I have a passion for linguistics and Spanish and I want to pursue that passion. I also hope that someday I can positively influence my community or where-ever I may go through my work in language. I'm not exactly sure where I'll end up, but I know where I'd like to go. Though, I am certain UWM is a great starting point for me.

All that's been said, I'd like to introduce a series of blogs called The College Experience. In these blogs I'd like to challenge you to think about what you want to get out of your college experience. I'll give you some advice and tips on how to handle everyday college life along the way. ;) Perhaps, I can even help you out in someway. In any case, I would appreciate the same, as I am a first year student.

Before we end this little get-together, I'd like to ask you one thing...

Why are you here?

In answering this question we can figure out what we need to get the most out of our college experience.

(Feel free to answer on the blog. Remember, you can remain anonymous!)

Dealing with death

The hard thing about college is being away from home. If something happens, it can be hard for people to get back home to deal with it.
Last night, I went to hang out with some people, and when I came back to my room, I found a text message from a friend back home saying another friend had died.
I felt like it couldn't be real. Like, I'm not home, so there's no way he could possibly be gone. I didn't get to say goodbye.
He was 17, and died in a motorcycle accident, going 80 MPH down a back road when a car pulled out in front of him. He hit the car and flipped over it.
Death is hard enough to deal with as it is, but being away from home....it's worse. How do you get back for services? How do you cope? Yes, friends can be great and be there for you, but that doesn't always help.
My home is only about 40 minutes away from Milwaukee, but I can't get back to go to the funeral. That makes it so much harder. There's absolutely no closure. You can "pretend", and say goodbye here, but it's not the same.
I still haven't accepted it, I don't think. I wasn't particularly close to this person, but it's still upsetting. I've known him for 4 years, and now he's just....gone.

Chasing after carrots...

Trying to get all of your homework done is like dangling a carrot in front of bugs bunny on a treadmill... Unless you're lucky it's never going to happen.

I've been sick for almost 2 weeks now. A couple days ago I wandered over to Norris Health Center where I was diagnosed with bronchitis. The medicine I needed, and some cough drops, totaled $11... And I'm lucky, I could be much sicker right now, a girl on the floor below me is coughing up blood as of recently.

I'm still not feeling any better. I spend most of the night hacking crud up from my lungs, and I felt bad for the 90 or so people in my stats class yesterday; I coughed through a good 10 minutes of lecture and I'm not sure anyone could hear anything.

In happier news I landed me job interview! Super exicted for that!! I'll let you guys know more about it when I land it. Yes, "when I land it," I plan on getting it. :-D

Oh and according to the lady at the health center I'm 5'7", which is pretty awesome seeing as I've been 5'5.5" for as long as I can remember. Yay for random unshrinking!!... Hopefully she didn't measure wrong, but I'm not going to entertain that thought as I'm too pleased with my new height. :-)

Turns out my italiano tutor studied at the university of bologna in italy (the italian equivalent of uw-madison), which is where I'm thinking of studying abroad at next year. Italiano has been overwhelming, to say the least, but I'm still enjoying it, most of the time. (Bologna is located where my pen's tip is pointing)

It's weird for me being around so many guys. Rochester, MN, where I'm from, is nursing city so virtually anyone who hangs around after high school is female. It seems much more 50/50 here. Even in Eau Claire there weren't this many guys, it was something like 60-70% female, I think because they have so many "girly majors" (nursing, comm dis, education...) and no programs in engineering. It seemed like most guys there were music, business, or science. UWM seems like the complete opposite, there is a ton of engineering and research-based programs.

& I saw a girl in a hot pink sticky-outy tutu in the library today, it was pretty random and adorable. She definitely wasn't straight from ballet class or anything, it was just her outfit. To be honest, I want one.... I love that people wear whatever they want here. In Eau Claire there would have been a lot of stares and whispers.

...Usher just started playing on my ipod. I feel like dancing... Must resist!

Back to studying and avoiding doing my laundry!

Arrivederci!

Tina

Planning Vs. Spontaneity

In the past, I have had a lot of trouble with making decisions too late. I decided to transfer schools about one month before the next semester began, and had to wait another whole semester because of it. I decided what school I would enroll in about two months before the year started and had to rush to finish everything on time. I barely made it here.

That being said, I am currently struggling between the two ideas of:

1. Planning out the rest of my time in college

2. letting things happen naturally

I know that it’s a give and take but Bill Gates and Donald Trump didn’t get to where they are by just letting things happen, right? Every day I wake up I want to have a plan. I want to better myself, get an edge on my career, become more culturally aware, make friends, get involved, and so much more.

Right now my major is Documentary Journalism, but I can’t decide whether I should minor in Political Science or double major. I have the time; I’m ahead in my credits. This brings up the question of when should I get an internship? Where? How do I even go about finding one? How does it work? When should I study abroad? How much time do I want to spend away from campus? All these questions happen in about the span of 30 seconds, over and over.

I want to hear some success stories, tips, and advice, from anyone! What is a good balance between the two? I don’t want to wait until senior year and realize that it’s too late to do the things I wanted to. I have a goal to get into NYU for my masters degree, and even if I can’t afford to go, I just want to be good enough to have the option to do whatever I want to. I don't want to be held back because of my lack of action anymore. 

Beat The Germ!!

Beat The Germ!! from Kelly Kloth on Vimeo.

Getting into the groove of life

So we had our first full week of classes and tomorrow starts another full week. I am starting to get into the swing of things and make a routine for myself here. The routine usually includes failing at homework and studying which needs to be changed. We started our SI review sessions and tutoring as well this week. They went super well, even though I was extremely nervous. It seems that every class is currently reviewing preterit and imperfect which I understand for the most part. I tutor all the way through Spanish 308 which concerns me slightly. I really need to start reviewing everything!

I made it to the grocery store today without my GPS! I was super excited it shows I am starting to be familiar with where I am, even though Pick n' Save is like 5 minutes away.

On Thursday I went to Chicago for the White Sox vs. Twins game. My twins swept the series which was super exciting! I've been rather upset that I can not watch the game on TV here. Tuesday night a bunch of us are going to the Brewer's game with our free tickets from PantherFest! I'm really excited because Miller Park is suppose to be amazing.

Below are pictures from the game.


I haven't done anything else super exciting lately. Tuesday night our apartment had a bake off and I made Mexican Fried Ice Cream. All of the sweets were very tasty. Saturday, the 18th was Fiestas Patrias, Chile's independence day and their 200th Birthday! I celebrated by going to a Latino restaurant on the south side of town. I also made empanadas on Monday. They are like little meat pies that are a staple in Chile's diet during their independence celebration.
Mexican Fried Ice Cream

Next weekend I am going to stay with my relatives in Chicago and then the following weekend I will be heading home for my undergrads homecoming. I am starting to really miss familiar faces here and can't wait to be able to see my family again. Since my undergrad was only 20 minutes from home I could see my family whenever I wanted!

Well...

Made it through my first full week of classes. It seemed to drag on FOREVERRRRRR. Probably because I have an 8 AM math class every morning during the week :/

I had my first ever "online" class for English - we did an essay discussion over D2L. That was interesting, but it seemed like too much work. I feel like I would've rather sat in class for an hour and 15 minutes instead. Maybe cause I find online discussions to be rather cheesy and lame.
I skipped my first class this week too. Oops. I needed a day to just stay in bed and recuperate from the week (not enough sleep, everyone being sick, etc), but then I ended up going to my other class of the day later on cause I felt better by then.
I met up with my cousin who I found out lives in town, so she took me to her bridal shower with her cause otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go. Saw my mom and grandma for the first time since I went off for school. That was nice, but the constant "How are you liking school?" (blah blah blah) questions from everyone got kind of annoying. It was nice to see them though. As much as I whine about how I don't like my mom (ask any of my friends), I really do miss her. Not enough of the time to actually tell her i miss her though. I feel like being away from her will make her and my relationship stronger. We used to fight a lot during my last year of high school and the summer before college started this year. I feel a lot closer to her now that she's not constantly "all up in my business".

Room Tour, Finally

Since I'm stuck at home sick (hey look at that, UWM's home now!) I figured I would take the time to post a room tour.... I am feeling a lot better though, so that's good news :)

Tina's crib *que mtv song*

1 bed

1.5/4 baths (1 shower + 1 toilet + 2 sinks / 4 girls)

1/4 kitchen AKA my fridge.

1/2 car (a bike)

I opted to not loft my bed because I like my bed just tall enough that I roll off and am standing already, none of this climbing up and down nonsense. And futons are a pain to move, especially considering the 6 hour ride with my entire family... I do wish I had a little more open space in my room, especially since it's a single, but having my bed lower is more important to me.

My room during move-in. Hectic day

My closet, it's pretty great, lots of space, and yes, I do have a lot of clothes...

My "kitchen" if you will ;) The water heater's super useful for making tea since we're not allowed microwaves in our rooms, each house (every two floors) shares one. Which I appreciate, given the amount of fire alarms we'd have if everyone had a microwave... A lot. We've already had one for burnt popcorn, the whole tower had to evacuate at 11pm. A lot of people were crabby the next day...

My beautiful new dishes, from the clearance rack of urban outfitters. Well, except that mug in the background, I got that years ago at pier 1 imports.

My bed prior to posters getting posted. Panda wasn't ready for the picture... And that's my hello kitty cd alarm clock on top of the last green drawer :) The drawers under my bed are stackable and pull open, they're useful and they add a lot of color to the room (lime green/purple). My pink storage foot stool adds a little bit of seating in my room when I need it.

My posters that I added above the head of my bead. Billy Joel River of Dreams, Mona Lisa Smile, WWF magazine page, and Dream.

My desk. Take note of my "I'm a republican fan" fan, it makes me giggle everytime I see it :) Oh and andy warhol, no room is complete without him! Oh and yes, lava lamps are fair game in the dorms, I checked the resident handbook on that one... :)

My room's a LOT brighter in person, the comforter itself is pretty blinding in it's hues... Best seen in that first move in picture.

That's pretty much it. Now, as they do it on mtv cribs-

Get out, NOW ;-)

Jenna- College is a Germ Fest!!

So I am sick.. I woke up yesterday feeling like crap in general. I have a terrible stuffy nose, a headache, and I can barely talk like myself. I'm sure it doesn't help that 89% of the people in all my classes are sick as well.. Including the one that sat next to me on Wednesday in math class.. Gross!! I'm hoping to feel better soon. I stocked up on vitamin C before I came, but I may need a lot more vitamins!

Our cafeteria is finally open!! I am soo excited! I'm going tonight to dinner with one of my suitemates. Our room inspection is tonight so I hope that it goes well!! I'm off to spend time with my sister afterwards. It's so nice that one of my sisters lives in the city. She's been my mentor since I moved down here. I rode the city bus to her and my brother-in-laws place last weekend. I survived!! It's really not all that bad if you have a general idea of where you're going. You can also ask the driver if he/she calls out the stops. That helps too.

I am going home next weekend and guess what?! I'm getting another tattoo!! :] with the recent passing of my horse, I got his name tattooed on my wrist.. But I feel like I need a quote to look at every time I think of him.. It's like he's speaking the words directly to me. "Our hoofbeats were many, but our hearts beat as one." On my foot. If you know me, stop me after next weekend and I'll show it to you!!

The first full week of classes went well for me.. I actually missed my 9 am English class on Wednesday morning.. Oops. I went to sleep forgetting to set my alarm and woke up at 8:40. I hope none of you guys have done that yet! I have my first test next Tuesday in Sociology. I am hoping that it isn't too hard, it doesn't seem like it will be. I've been keeping busy between school and work so I haven't had much time to update this blog as I would have liked to. But for any of you considering living in a residence hall, do it! I absolutely love it. The sense of community is so warm and welcoming. People say hi to you out in the halls, the elevators, everywhere! You can be making a pizza in the kitchen and wind up making a new friend!

I got a care package from my mom last night and was so excited!! I sent her a list of things I needed and she sent me a huge box packed to the top! She also put in Ritz crackers and homemade chocolate chip cookies. And medicine to help me get over this cold! I miss my hometown. I miss the familiarity and knowing exactly where everything is. In Milwaukee I have a general idea of where things are around my dorm and campus but other than that I'm pretty lost! I'm looking forward to getting to know the city more though. It's always bustling no matter the hour. I hope everyone has a great weekend and I look forward to talking to you guys next week!!

Jenna

Can You Forget About Something You're Passionate About?

I was going to write about something last night that I felt incredibly passionate about on here, but now I've forgotten what it is. I guess it was all just from exhaustion of a long day of classes and homework. Anyways, I've noticed that there is a general anger toward the shuttle service. I can't say I'm not one of them. I've found myself almost being late for class, by a minute or so. I seem to always get down to the stop with half an hour before my class. Ten to fifteen minutes later I'm on the shuttle/bus. Now, the university website says there's supposed to be one arriving every four minutes. I know that the construction adds on a few minutes, but this is just ridiculous. They have at least one shuttle and two to three school buses running and they can't seem to keep in the time frame. For the first week I figured it wasn't a big deal and they were getting into the hang of the route, but at this point it's just getting ridiculous. Not to mention I live at Riverview. The shuttle stops at Cambridge, which has around three times as many students, and they load up the shuttle leaving a few places for standing room on the shuttle. I'm sorry, but there has got to be a better, more efficient way to run the shuttles.

And I'm sick...

The night before last I had a really sore throat, and yesterday was miserable. I spent the day sleeping instead of doing homework, and I spent the night sneezing and blowing my nose instead of going out on a karaoke night with the ΦΣΣΡ girls, which is a sorority I'm rushing. Sad.

I've discovered that the quickest way to make your residence hall suite lonely and desolate is to get sick. Your suitemates will whip out the lysol and make themselves scarce, never leaving their doors open. But on the flip side mine have been really great about keeping quiet so I can sleep, I'm super grateful for that.

I can only hope that my neighbors on the other side, the ones who like to party and play loud music so much, enjoyed my constant, geyser-like sneezing as much as I did. Hehe.

I'm definitely not the only one sick in my house right now. And it was pretty inevitable that I would become sick; in every one of my classes last week at least one sick person would wander in late and sit right next to me. The last physics class I had I was pancaked between 4 sick people, in stats there was one sneezing at me from behind, the last italian class I had it was the girl on my left side... And I have a few big tests coming up that I need to do some serious studying for. So hopefully it lets off soon.

That's pretty much it for Tina's update. Remember to wash your hands with soap and eat your fruit and whatnot!

Hugs and sneezes,
Tina

Life on the Eastside

I love it here, end of story. I have awesome suitemates, great new friends. I'm even liking my classes. Well, most of them. Physics has been surprisingly good, boring on occasion, but not bad. Italiano has been exciting and fun, completely draining of all my free time, but still super cool. Statistics, well, blah, but I guess it'll be applicable to my future in health care? On the plus side my statistics professor is pretty funny, it could be a lot worse. Meditation- the techniques discussed in class and the readings assigned have been really great, I was skeptical at first but I'm definitely getting attached my newest hobby. Ease into fitness has been good, it makes me really really sore because it's far from easy (aerobics, strengthening, yoga, weights...), but I'm loving it. Kayaking is by far my favorite class, it's with a guy named Kim who is hilarious and the whole class is 9-4 on three sundays and that's just it, you're done and you had a great time and you got a credit. This Sunday will be our third and last class, we'll be kayaking downtown Milwaukee (sooooo excited!!!).

As far as activities go I've only had time to try out a few different things so far- Blackat ultimate frisbee which was a lot of fun but too much of a time commitment, Intervarsity christian fellowship, and italiano club (so fun!). I also plan on getting involved in some volunteer work, the sailing club, and the republican club... Among others, I'm not really sure yet. We'll see what all I have time for :)

Oh and I voted!! Twas pretty exciting. I went downstairs, when I hit the address part of the registration form and tilted my head the man behind the table immediately spat out our street address, this made me giggle. Apparently no one who lives here remembers it! And then I put little lines for my selections and the paper got sucked through the machine and made a little victorious bbbeeeLLEEEP. The end. :)

Arrivederci! :)
Tina

Fashion Forward.

Yesterday, after I was walking back to my room from class, I saw a boy wearing a shirt that said, "Just Do It Milwaukee". Not only am I in love with Nike's branded phrase "Just Do It", but I also enjoy wearing shirts that represent the places I have been. After spending some time on Google, and enlisting the help of my friends, I was not able to find where it was sold. (If anyone knows, please TELL ME!) 

This got me thinking about the kind of fashion that takes place in college, and how it is always changing. The first few days of school everyone always looks their best. As the weeks go by, people start breaking out sweatpants, hoodies, slippers, and sometimes fail to change out of their pajamas altogether. 

This year, comfortable is in. I have spotted a lot of gladiator sandals around campus, a good alternative to heels this season. This look can be dressed up or kept casual by pairing them with a good pair of skinny jeans, an oversized button up top pulled together with a waisted belt and some good accessories. 

As the seasons change and the temperature starts to drop we are going to put our sandals away and take out our boots. Last year Ugg boots were very popular, and in a cold climate such as the Midwest they will always exist. This year though, the previously popular Uggs have been traded in for Moccasin boots. This is one trend that I will not be following. Moccasin boots are like Justin Timberlake or Britney Spears. Although at one time they may have been popular, a love for these nowadays should just be kept in the closet.

In a recent interview with Nina Garcia, in U4U Magazine, she suggests what students should wear to an “occasion” such as going to class. “Well, you have to ask yourself, what do I really want to say with what I’m wearing? Where am I going? Who is going to watch me?  What message do you want to give, if there is a message? Or, is it that you really want to be comfortable and practical? So, it depends.” She also goes on to say how you can use fashion to be competitive in your studies and get an edge in the workplace by carefully analyzing your wardrobe. The full article can be found at www.u4umagazine.com and is located on page 2. 

Public Conduct

This past weekend I attended what may be my last Pantherfest. I can proudly say that I have attended every Pantherfest in my four years here. While I have enjoyed the bands and find it awesome that the school puts on a free concert for students and it is usually a pretty big name (I seem to hear Kid Cudi everywhere right now) I find the actions of the students at this event appalling. I know most students that were there enjoyed the music and had a great time with their friends however there were those people who actually booed the opening act Shiny Toy Guns. Now their music is not everyone's preference it still takes a lot to get up on a stage and perform. Not everyone can do that. Also there were some people there to actually listen to Shiny Toy Guns and yet couldn't over the cries for Kid Cudi. I found it very disrespectful of us as students to behave this way, it also does no represent us well as a University when we boo a band that didn't have to even come and perform at our school. We are adults now and I think it is time for us to act as such. This post isn't about every student far from it, but it is time to recognize that at some point we all need to present some maturity in situations. Hopefully next year more people will be open minded to the other bands at Pantherfest and respectful of fellow concert goers.

You Come First

Sorry I haven't been writing nearly as much as I wanted to lately. I've been so caught up in my school work and keeping relationships with people. I've been juggling appointments, and activities in and out of school. Let's just say, my schedule has been keeping quite the busy person, and when I'm not, well, I like to relax.

I'm interested in working with kids with the YMCA (which is like Big Brothers Big Sisters), and I want to join AIAS (for architecture), Emerging Green builders, and some other groups, maybe Habitat for Humanity. As you can see, that would also take up a lot of time in my day. Giving back is very important to me though.

I want to give you as a reader advice, and let you know, that during your first semester....don't take on more than you can handle. It may seem easier said than done, but when reality hits, more often than not, you will find yourself taking on more than you really can handle. Sometimes, you think you can take on the world, and you can do it all, but remember.....you can always say "NO" to things you don't have time for. Don't feel bad. There are other opportunities in life. Just because you couldn't do it all now, doesn't mean you can't go back and take up the groups, clubs, activities and volunteering you didn't before.

Just remember not to "burn yourself out". Stress gets the best of us sometimes and it's sneaky. It'll just attack one day, and you don't know how or why. You thought you were perfectly fine one minute, and the next minute youre just a mess.

It's because you are taking on more than you thought you could. It's great you want to do so much with your life, but the biggest thing to remember is that you need to take care of you first. You can't take care of other things and other people unless you take care of you first.

That means less stress, more sleep, a healthier diet and exercise. Make priorities and always give yourself some much needed relaxation.

Go out and do what you want, join what you want and make a successful first semester, but keep in mind that you come first, which also means your mental and physical health.

Take care, and have a happy, healthy first semester.

I think I'm starting to like it here!

The rest of the week was pretty eventful, a lot of ups and downs. Wednesday I had my night class which was quite the disaster. We received the syllabus and let me tell you, my fun little elective did not seem so fun when we were assigned to read ten chapters in a week and write little papers about our readings. After freaking out through the whole class, I decided to drop it and take a Monday night class since they haven’t started yet. I have been reevaluating my semester schedules and will hopefully still graduate in August. I am also thinking of the possibility of going abroad this summer for a two or three week program. Hopefully Costa Rica J I also went to the event where all the clubs were, which wasn’t that cool compared to my undergrads. I missed all the free cups, pizza, shirts and backpacks they gave out there.

We went to trivia on Thursday night in the Union. We all got free Pantherfest shirts for going which was sweet. My team placed fourth which was pretty good. The categories were a little dumb, there were holidays, festivals, sports, food, music and something else. So many of them all related back to holidays or festivals which are all sort of the same thing.

Friday I had a work meeting so hopefully I know what I am doing next week, I still am really confused with the computer programs that they want us to use for scheduling and attendance. I received my teachers edition of the Spanish 103 book, pretty exciting, minus the fact that it weights a ton! I met my advisor finally after my meeting. He was really nice and approved my plans. There was a grad school welcome meeting but I decided not to go because I didn’t want to be lectured on things that did not really pertain to me anyway. Rachel said it was lame anyways. I went to Five Guys with Adrian and Fritz, a German exchange student. It was delicious as always. Then we went next door to Cold Stone because Fritz hadn’t been there yet. After that was to be my first Milwaukee Public Transit experience. It wasn’t that eventful at all actually, went pretty smooth.

At 5 I went down to go to PantherFest. I was pretty set on getting there way early because I heard something about FREE Brewers tickets. We went to all the little booths and got free shirts, backpacks, key chains, cotton candy, you name it. I got two Brewers tickets for the week of the 20^th so I am excited to go to the game! After we maxed out on the free goods we had like two plus hours before the actual concert started so we went to Indian Summer which was also happening next door. We found a lot more free stuff which was pretty exciting. Cards from a casino, more backpacks, notebooks, key chains and more. Then we went to watch the Grand Entry which was cool to see. They had many veterans come in and then a bunch of native dancers.

After that we decided to head over to the concert. When we walked in it was so packed. The whole lower level was full. We had seats in about the fourth row of the second level right on the aisle which we thought would be great… except not. A bunch of younger students came in and they wouldn’t go find seats above us and instead just crowded into our area and stood in front of us so we couldn’t see anything. After about 30 minutes security got angry and started blocking their path down. After about an hour of the first act I was ready to head back. I didn’t know either of the bands and was getting cold and tired. We took a shuttle back to campus and the lines at the Union just to board the bus were so crazy. We waited for a MCTS bus forever and we tried to call BOSS but they wouldn’t bring us home because we could just use a housing shuttle although those were also slow and limited. We saw about every BOSS van drive by us empty but apparently we couldn’t take them. When we got back we were starving so we hit up Ma Fischer’s which was quite delicious.

This morning I woke up and met some friends to go downtown. We took a bus to the Public Market and looked at all the delicious things. Then we did part of the Riverwalk to see the Bronze Fonz and then went to Old 3^rd Street. We went to the Miller Brewery but the tours were full until 3 so Rachel and I left the boys there since Rachel had to be back. I was able to navigate us home just perfectly which was a bus rider confidence boost!

Tuesday night there is a bake off in my building and I can’t decide what to make. A Mexican dessert or a Chilean one… both are delicious of course!

GetOutTheVote!

GetOutTheVote! from Kelly Kloth on Vimeo.

First Week Complete

Fall is here, and it's pretty chilly out. I've been wearing a sweatshirt every day this week, and I should have last Friday as well. First real week of classes went pretty smooth. It doesn't hurt that my earliest classes are at 11 and on Mondays and Wednesdays I don't have classes until noon. I've noticed that the shuttles are getting better every day. I wasn't too crazy about them on the first few days seeing as it seemed like I was waiting for one longer than I spent riding it. I've managed to get out and explore my neck of the woods a little more, including the footpath that runs behind Riverview that heads up to a park, pretty cool.

Other than classes I've been hanging out around Riverview and the campus. Last night I headed up to the union with one of my suite-mates for the Speed Meet, we got there near the end so we didn't get any fancy prizes. After that we headed to game night in the library and played a game of Life with two other guys. I highly endorse game night at the library, it's awesome and I had a lot of fun.

And after a long battle with my printer I have finally set it up, just in time to print out my history paper. I couldn't believe how over-the-top and complicated it was. Its got five separate ink cartridges, I'm used to two, and the blue ink is labeled "C." I assume that stands for cerulean? The printer works like a dream though. I think I'll lay low this weekend and get ahead on my history essays, I've got one every week to turn in. Never hurts to plan ahead, and maybe I'll do some math.

Also, not sure if anyone else has experienced this, but I still haven't gotten the hang of turning on the water to the right temperature in the showers here, ha. It spins around nearly three times, but if I go a little past the sweet spot it's either freezing or scalding hot. Time and practice will make me an expert on this though.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Jenna- I'm Still Alive!

Hey guys,
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Between moving in, getting to know my roommates, and the first week of class, I've been quite busy. Overall, my classes are very interesting! I am in love with my sociology class, Social Problems in American Society. It challenges the way people thing about different groups and the stigmas that surround these problems. Very cool!

So last night my roommate and I went over to Riverview for the first time ever. I was absolutely starving after work and I couldn't possibly study on an empty stomach! I was surprised at how small it was. I thought it would have been bigger and had more options.. We met one of our suitemates there and she had gotten stir fry. A must on my list for next time. I ended up getting vegetable sushi (a first for me), a banana nut muffin, pumpkin pie, and an apple juice. Mind you, this is my first real meal being a college student. I was happy with everything except for the muffin. It tasted like it was about 2 weeks old! But oh well, you can't have everything. I'm just hoping that our cafeteria opens soon, it's would be nice to be able to stay in our own building. I am venturing out to Pick and Save for some groceries tomorrow. Hoping I don't break the bank!!

My roommate and I did our laundry together this past Sunday and that was an experience. It consisted of waiting for about 20 minutes until a washer opened up and then standing guard in front of it until it finished and it was ready to be transferred to the dryer. All in all it wasn't terrible, but waiting almost 2 hours to do laundry was pretty draining. Whose excited for the first full week of classes next week? I absolutely love being on the campus and just walking around. It's interesting how many different types of people you can meet by just being open and saying hi. That's what I love about UWM.

Pantherfest is tonight and that's bound to be awesome! It'll be a late night for me but I'm hoping to be able to sleep in Saturday morning, the first time since I've been here! I promise to keep you guys updated on all the new experiences I have. Have a great weekend!! :]

Jenna

One Week Down, Plenty More To Go...

With the first week of classes done, I have to say that I'm just totally frickin' excited to be here.

I never went and looked for my classes before I started going to them, but I never got lost once. I'm sure I looked like a dorky freshman my first day carrying around a map, but hey, better safe than sorry!

I've already had my fair share of embarassing/bad choices, but I've learned from them. Nothing illegal or anything, mind you - I just feel like I could've made better choices.

One thing that's kind of disappointing is the food here. I mean, the food itself is decent - way better than the food in the cafeteria at high school (for me at least...) but the lack of options is kind of disappointing. I have to get up by like 8 and get ready for my day to be able to eat breakfast by the 10 (or is it 1030?) cutoff time. And it just seems like they have mostly the same thing every day, just a little bit mixed up. Like - pasta every day, but different noodles and sometimes different sauces. And my roommate and I usually eat dinner kind of late (since we get up later) and we're only left to go eat at Palm Gardens, which isn't exactly the healthiest of choices. It also kind of bugs me that the more healthy the food is, the more expensive it is. But, I guess that's life. Overall, there's not much to complain about.

People are already getting sick here - that bugs me too. I'm one of those people who gets sick ALL THE TIME. I feel like with such a big campus, there's going to be so much stuff going around and I'm rarely going to be healthy.

I tried out a Zumba class on campus at the Klotsche Center the other day. That was...interesting, to say the least. I'm not a dancer, so I'm sure I looked silly and uncoordinated. But I figured I'd give it a shot. I don't think I'll be returning, but that's just me! I'm interested in trying out the kick boxing class though.

I had posted something about college "myths" a while ago. Glad to see I wasn't coming into this thinking some of the things other freshmen do. For my classes, there's only one class where we're not required to go to the lectures. For the rest, I'm allowed 4 excused (like...with a doctor's note or whatever to prove that it was legitimate) absences, and even with those, I still lose points for attendance/participation.

Homework hasn't been so hard for me lately. I usually like to procrastinate, but I haven't been doing much of that lately. Yesterday I sat out in the lounge and did 2 hours of reading, and today I did an hour's worth of math homework.

Funny story for you though. The other day, my roommate and I were really hungry so we decided to run over to the union quick between classes. We had stopped by our room first to put some stuff away and then left. We got to the union and then she realized she didn't have her ID (or her keys, since they were all together)! Embarassing. Haha. But we rushed back to the towers with 15 minutes til class, I waited for an elevator, which quickly came, thank goodness. Then I ran to our room, grabbed her notebook and folder (which she forgot because she thought it was a different day and then realized it wasn't...) and her keychain and booked it downstairs. Then we hustled to our classes and we both surprisingly made it on time.

My birthday's tomorrow. 19, woooooo. I'm glad I only have 2 classes, and then Pantherfest! And on Saturday, my best friend is coming out to visit me and spend the night. Sooooo excited.

The First Week

So I haven't written because I have been just so busy with EVERYTHING! I will attempt to recap all the exciting things I have been doing. I have many photos to share as well!

I have failed at unpacking my room as well, because it's either homework or hang out with people. I guess I didn't expect to make friends to have them distract me! I met a lot of great people at the Kenilworth Block Party, almost all of us are brand new to Milwaukee so that is great! At the block party we played catch phrase and then Anthony took some of us to an open clay event in the art center in the Union. I made a pinch pot, because yes... I fail at artistic things. Since I am outgoing and wanted to do something that night I got everyone's numbers and invited them out to dinner and out in Milwaukee afterward. We had a fun time eat at a nearby Chinese place and then went to some pubs.
My Beautiful Art :)
The crew
The next day, Sunday we went on a grocery shopping trip. I drove us to the Pick'n Save. I learned you can save a lot if you have your membership card. I went for a walk with Adrian out to the lake. It was beautiful and I decided then that Milwaukee would be a nice place for this year. We made dinner with another girl, Nyla, from Pakistan. She made us a dish from home which had chicken, rice and veggies. It was rather spicy and we were sweating from eating it since we weren't used to it.

On Monday I went on the bus tour of Milwaukee. I saw so many things I really want to do. Obama was in town and we could hear him talking at the art museum. We got to go by the lake, but it was really windy and cold. After the tour some of us hung out and then went to get burritos. Delicious of course!
Natalie, Rachel and Me on the lake


Buildings downtown
The art museum
Homework has taken a back seat... but I really need to get going on that. Next week all of my SI sessions and tutoring starts so I will be quite the busy girl. I am still working on setting up my internship, but hopefully that will be underway soon as well.

We went bowling at the Union because it is free all week! I bowled a 153... not too shabby! This weekend I am going to Pantherfest and then Saturday a bunch of us are going to go explore downtown. Thursday night I am going to hit up Trivia Night with my building!

This is Just the Beginning!

I have finished my first week in Milwaukee. I have had two days of classes so far, and spent three days doing the homework for them (don't worry, I am the slowest person when it comes to doing any kind of task or assignment). Since some of my classes won't be meeting until the third week, the professors have found it to be a brilliant idea to email us chapters upon chapters of reading that we should do before our first day. Its not too bad though, considering how much I really do enjoy school. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here, but as a student I feel like I'm supposed to complain about homework. 

I really can't complain about my rooming situation at all. It is actually very close to perfect, and I can't think of anything that I would like to change. I finally got all of my things unpacked, but it will probably take me around another week before I find the perfect spot for everything (like I said before, slowest moving person around). Sharing a bathroom hasn't been a problem at all, most likely because I have so many sisters back home and only one bathroom there too, so I'm used to it. 

I have been hearing a lot of talk about people missing their family and friends back home. It has only been one week so far, but for some, the first week can be the most shocking and life-changing of all of the weeks in college. I am from the great state of Minnesota, and going home every weekend is not possible for me. Last night I was thinking about how I would be getting home for Thanksgiving break this November, and checking out the prices of bus tickets on the internet. I found a ticket online through Megabus for $1. I don't know how this happened, and the price went up to $20 immediately after I bought mine, but it just goes to show that even though I am a long ways from home I can commute back for an affordable price when I need to. I am thinking that maybe I will want to go home more often... no, probably not actually. 

Class Confusion

Class Confusion from Kelly Kloth on Vimeo.

Intro

Hello UWM!! My name is Whitney, and I am a senior at UWM. On top of this being my senior year, I also live in Kenilworth Apartments and work for the Residential Programs Office as a Program Specialist. Which means I supervise a student staff and do other various tasks around the office. I love my job! I enteratct with all types of students as well as forming realtionships with professional staff members. If in my freshman year someone would have told me I would one day be working for the Universtiy of Wisconsin Milwuakee I wouldn't have believed them. Not only does UWM have endless oppurtunities for jobs, but it truly has some amazing programs. I am part of the Letters and Science program and will have a major in Political Science (POLISCI), however through my work experience I am considering going to graduate school for higher education.
Kenilworth is a really nice building to live in. I like being so close to North Avenue and all the fun things to do there, it is also nice to be close to work, just a short two block walk. So far, everyone I have met have been super nice, which helps to give the apartment a good homey feel! I can't believe it is senior year already, the last four years have flown by, so enjoy every minute of it, I know I plan too!

Move In and First Day

The morning of move in I had work orientation to be a Supplemental Instruction Leader from 10:00 until 3:00. It was very overwhelming because I have never had to deal with online things for classes. My undergrad school was pretty small and they do not really offer online options since it is a very traditional 4 year university. Let's just say that I was way lost because I didn't even know the basics about D2L as a student let alone being a facilitator. I have made an appointment with one of the technology guys that works at PASS to help me so I know what I am doing.

After work orientation I went back to the hotel so my mom and I could head over to Kenilworth. It was quite the little adventure because my GPS kept telling me to take roads that were closed and after circling the building we finally figured out where the parking garage was. I would say I was slightly disappointed with move in. I hear all of these stories about these giant carts and being able to fit everything in just one or two trips... but false for Kenilworth. We had these wooden carts and tiny carts to use which made us take about 9 trips total because they really could not hold that much. One difference between here and my old apartment in MN is they have that gray thing called a FOB to flash in front to unlock the door. I'm very used to having that technology built into my ID card so it seems weird to really not need my card for anything.

I then went to check my mail and had numerous packages (textbooks) waiting for me. Luckily the book I had to read for the first day of classes had already arrived. I also ran into a girl I went to high school with who lives a few doors down which is really random since we're seven hours away from home! We basically didn't have time to unpack much since we were starving. Since the big suitcases needed to go home with my mom we just threw all of that on the floor and called it good.

I used my GPS to find a Chinese restaurant just a few blocks away called Chopsticks. It was super cheap and delicious. Plus I had plenty of extras so that is what I am living on until I am brave enough to go to the grocery store. I said goodbye to my mom and then I met both of my roommates after dinner and we just talked for a long time. My mom then started texting me with all sorts of reminders and I had to remind her that I am not a first year, I am a graduate student which meant I could do things on my own. My roommates were super helpful with my random questions like where buildings were, where I boarded the shuttle and the times, etc.

I then made my bed and packed my back pack for the next day and called it a night. I had no desire to unpack or put anything away.

The alarm went off at 7 am today and I got ready quickly since I didn't really know how long it would take for the bus to arrive, bring me up, find the building and still have time to talk with the professor before class started. At 8 I had to attend Span 103 lecture since it is a class that I do SI and tutor for. I am required to attend three 103 lectures a week with different professors. She was super kind and really excited that I was there which made me excited. Part of my job is to also participate in the classes so I had fun saying my name and other greetings in Spanish. I had to talk a little bit about what I actually do and handed out my snazzy book marks with all my SI times and info. After class I returned back to Kenilworth and took a nap because I am so exhausted from running around these past few days.

I went to my first grad class and the first assignment was to watch Little Miss Sunshine, so that was pretty exciting. It is related to class I swear! The class is Social Work 771 and it is about family structures and how one's family shapes who they are. I found the room easily but apparently the air conditioning is broken so we were all dying after 2 and a half hours. The professor kept giving us breaks so go cool down. I think I am going to really enjoy that class since it makes you reflect on your own family.

I took the shuttle back and then decided to start arranging my room. It was a struggle to move the big heavy desk but it is all coming together!

Looking at my apartment I'd say it's rather nice. My room is way bigger than I thought it would be, it is like three times the size in my old apartment. Although my room is huge, the kitchen and family room (or lack of) aren't so hot. There really isn't a sitting area in 3 person apartments even though it says there is. It's more or less part of the kitchen with no where to really put a couch or anything. The kitchen needs more places to put things, luckily I am the only one who seems to have items for the kitchen. The fridge is also rather short, like shorter than me and I'm not that tall of a person. The bathroom is large but has no drawer space to put things so that sucks. Biggest complaint though is CELL SERVICE! I set my room up so my bed is by the window so you can kinda get service. I got better service at home and my city is considered a black whole and one of the only places verizon doesn't cover. I guess I found another one! They should invest in one of the towers you can buy yourself to transmit service because crappy cell service without room phones is sort of hazardous.

I hope everyone's first day went well!

Cafeteria Food

I went to the cafeteria today, as promised, and guess what? It was DELICIOUS! There are so many options. I got a tortellini pasta salad (only $2.99!) and some chocolate soy milk. It tasted better than I would have guessed, and came in a convenient container so that I could bring the leftovers back to my room. I was surprised at how many healthy options were available, instead of just what I consider to be typical "cafeteria food".

I was curious as to where my meal plan was valid, and where I would need to use cash or my gold account. As it turns out, other people have been wondering the same thing. As asked on the facebook page of  University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee University Housing, they give a clear answer, "you can use your meal plan [at the union], but you pay the same price as you would with cash. In the residence hall cafeterias, you pay 50% of what you'd pay with cash (b/c you paid the administration fee)". They are a great resource for any general questions you have about housing, and have even helped me with completely unrelated items. They can be easily found at http://www.facebook.com/UWMUniversityHousing.

Classes Start Tomorrow Already!

Today is officially my third day at UWM. I have started to receive a lot of questions from my family and friends back home anxiously asking, "How is school?!" I'm sure they are all pretty nervous because I have already transferred schools after one semester and they probably think I'm going to suddenly change my mind again. The truth is that there is so much to do here, so many options, that I don't even know where to start. I can hardly even get into one conversation what this change has been like for me.

Classes start tomorrow and I can't wait to start meeting new people. My old school was so small that we all knew each other from facebook three months before school even started. We knew who was in all of our classes, and everything about each other. My class size was under 500. Imagine my surprise to show up here and there are 500 people in my residence tower alone! 

Okay, I have a bit of a confession to make to all of my followers out there. I haven't eaten any school food yet since I moved in. I have been eating PB&J sandwiches and Wisconsin Colby Wheat Thins (I found this fitting) in my room since I got here. Its not like I am scared, or don't know where the cafeteria is located. I don't really know why I haven't ventured out. I'm sure this is something I will look back on and remember how silly it was. But I'm making a promise to you, and to myself that tomorrow I will go eat a decent meal here for the first time. I remember freshman year, when every single new kid sat at their own table eating alone and just looked at all the other kids eating alone. So if you are new here, like me, and feeling a little bit lonely, don't be afraid to come sit by me and introduce yourself! I'm always willing to make new friends!

Today has been kind of a gross day outside. I walked to Oakland Street to check it out, and it started raining on me! I came back to my room and decided that there is no better time like the present to get your career going, so I started constructing a profile for all of my photography. I should probably start getting my things together to make sure I am ready to go to classes tomorrow, I haven't even looked at a campus map yet! I will make sure to fill you in on how the first day of classes goes. Until then be sure to check out some of my photography work, and sit with me at lunch if you get a chance!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brittany-Mann-Photography/111939662186510?ref=ts  

To Be Or Not To Be...

To Be or Not To Be... from Kelly Kloth on Vimeo.