Hungry Hungry Residents!

With contracts coming out soon I'd like to take a minute to explain the meal plan in more depth to clear up or prevent any confusion that may be surrounding the topic. Any resident that does not have a kitchenette in their suite is required to have a meal plan. When filling out a housing contract, three meal plan levels will be available to choose from. Level 1 is the lowest dollar amount and level 3 is the highest. Anyone assigned to a room which requires a meal plan but selected a no plan choice will default to level 2, if necessary. Each plan also includes (within the cost posted) a Dining Administration Fee which traditionally has been equal to the base amount of meal plan level one. This fee enables Restaurant Operations, who controls and coordinates all food related efforts, to provide the great service and convenience our residents become accustomed to throughout their time in University Housing.

The best place for residents to use their meal plans is in the cafeterias (Cambridge, RiverView and Sandburg plus Palm Gardens in Sandburg) because food purchased with a meal plan at those venues gets a 50% discount! Spending the meal plan money in the cafeterias is the best value for the price and helps you recoup the admin fee.

Everything available for purchase in the cafeterias being a la carte, so each transaction is only for the exact food purchased. There are no buffet-style cafeterias in University Housing (and you don't swipe or pay just to be able to enter the facility).

It is unlikely anyone will spend their entire meal plan in the cafeterias, but this is good information to be aware of and take into consideration when trying to budget out how to spend the meal plan.

"Eric! Help! There's still a month left in the semester and I don't have any more money left on my meal plan! Do I have to starve for the rest of the semester?!"

Absolutely not! Residents can add money to their meal plan online at Managemyid.com or in person at the cafeteria Cash Value Center located in Sandburg. On the other side of the fence, there is no penalty for not using the entire meal plan amount. Any balance at the end of Fall semester is carried over into the Spring semester, and the balance at the end of the contract (end of Spring semester) is refunded back to the resident, less a ten dollar processing fee.

If you have any questions about meal plans or if you would like to change your meal plan level, you can call or email our office at university-housing@uwm.edu.

Hopefully everyone understands meal plans a little better now!

Eric

Exercise on Campus!

In order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it is important to incorporate exercise into your routine. There are benefits for exercising now and in the future. Starting the habit of exercising now makes it easier to continue the habit later in life. 

I've come up with 5 top reasons why it is important for college students to exercise.

1. It helps control weight
• A change in diet, daily schedule, or just overall environment can make your body react in strange ways. Stress is another huge component that can make your weight fluctuate.
2. Improves your mood
• When you exercise your body produces endorphins, which make you happy. If you are mad at someone or stressed about a class, take a 30 minute walk. You can listen to music or call your mom, but whatever you do...get moving. It'll make you feel better.
3. Boosts Energy
•  It seems like you would be super tired after exercising and it's true, you probably will be. But once it becomes part of your routine you'll realize that you have more energy. 
4. You'll start sleeping better
• Probably because you're so tired from exercising right? Nope (well, sometimes). The healthier your body is, the easier it is to relax. 
5. It's just fun
• Personally running 5 miles is never something that has appealed to me or sounded like fun, but the first time I ran 5 miles was incredibly satisfying. In order to qualify as "fun" I take Zumba or exercise with a friend. Some people can read while running on the elliptical.You can make it fun for you and sometimes even be productive. 

Working out on and around campus is really easy. The Klotsche Center and Pavilion is open most of the year and has convenient hours. It has everything including a weight room, track, basketball/volleyball courts, a pool, racquet ball, and classrooms. The classrooms hold group exercise classes. There are GroupX classes like Zumba, Guts and Butts, Group Cycle, Kickboxing, and many more. All of those classes are free as long as you are a full time student.

The Klotsche Center also coordinates Intramural Sports. If you played a sport in high school and want to continue, this is a great way to do that. You can form a team with your friends or use it as a way to meet people. All the information about Intramural Teams can be found on the Klotsche website.

If you don't know how to get started when it comes to exercising or you need some personalized help, Klotsche has personal trainers. They will work with you to come up with a program that is best for you. I can say from personal experience that this is an amazing resource to use.

UWM also offers classes called Sport and Rec classes, which are one or two credit courses that only last half of the semester. Those classes range from rappelling to organic cooking, flower arrangement to outdoor survival, tango to bowling. It's a great way to have fun, earn credit and get exercise into your daily routine.

If you are living in any of the Residence Halls you'll have access to a small exercise room. They aren't as extensive as the Klotsche Center, but if you just want to run on the treadmill or lift some weights it's really nice not to have to leave your building. Make sure you check those out once you move in.

All around Milwaukee are different biking, walking, and running trails. This is a great way to get moving outside and see a lot of different parts of Milwaukee. Here is a website that had different routes planned out http://www.walkjogrun.net/running-routes/USA/WI/Milwaukee.

Exercise is a huge key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. There are many benefits, mentally and physically, so remember that when debating whether or not to go to the gym. Exercise is beneficial now and later on in your life.

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

Beat The Germ!!

Beat The Germ!! from Kelly Kloth on Vimeo.

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

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.