I am Addicted to Food

Some are addicted to X-Box.

Others are addicted to Gossip Girl.

I am addicted to food.

I went to Chipotle fourteen times last winter break (I'm actually wearing a Chipotle t-shirt as I type). I embrace my food addiction (clearly) and before coming to the University of Virginia I researched and taste tested Charlottesville’s most popular food establishments. I would be eating here for four years—1460 days—4380 meals; I had to be sure that there were fun food options. Researching Charlottesville cuisine was a delight and it took little time to realize that the city had some of the best restaurants in the country.

My taste test began at a Thai-Vietnamese restaurant on the Corner—Lemongrass—in the spring of my senior year. I can taste the Shrimp Pad See Ew as if it were yesterday. I went with a friend of mine who was a second year and I was pleased to discover that getting food was a common social activity for UVa students. I had always liked UVa but that was the moment I fell in love.

My next stop was HotCakes, a bustling café located minutes from central grounds in the Barracks Road Shopping Center. I enjoyed a caprese sandwich on sourdough and a side sesame salad. It was well worth the $7.49 I paid and I became a HotCakes regular after my first bite. The café has free Wi-Fi so bring your computer and get a latte or two (or three!).

The taste test didn't end there. I savored more food at College Inn, Bodo’s Bagels, Little John’s, Take it Away, and Miller’s. I explored Charlottesville cuisine before I was a first-year and I encourage you to do the same—even if you live in Alaska and it's via an online to-go menu! Food will be a huge part of your college experience. Luckily for you, the food in Charlottesville is incredible. If anyone wants to grab lunch, I'm your guy!

Bon appétit!

Pictures are from: http://www.hotcakes.biz/ and http://www.lemongrassuva.com

Club & Intramural Sports

If you're anything like I was in high school, being part of a sports team is really important to you. I'm sure you're struggling with the idea of choosing a huge D1 school where you won't have the comfort of a close knit team and practice every afternoon. But not at UVa, because we have tons of teams you can join! UVa has two levels of teams that are below the D1 level, club and intramural. Within the club teams, there's a variation of commitment and intensity. Some practice four times a week and travel most weekends, and some have a loose practice schedule and stay around grounds. With each team, your experience is really what you make it. I have loved my experiences so far with the Club Cross Country team and the Virginia Alpine Ski and Snowboard Team. We have practices for cross country every day of the week and for ski team two days a week, but for each team it's really when you have the time to come. We have fundraisers to raise money so that we can travel to meets and races, so it's a great way to hang out with your teammates outside of practice. Through my club teams, I've met some awesome people and some of my closest friends at UVa.

Another awesome way to get involved in sports is through all the intramural teams UVa offers. We have everything from inner tube water polo to soccer to racquetball. You can get together a group of friends and make a team, or you can sign up in the singles league and make some new friends! Either way, it's an awesome experience. Games are usually once a week, and they're really laid back. Some people sign up who played the sports in high school, and other people just sign up for the fun of playing. For example, I played on both a innertube water polo team and an outdoor soccer team this semester and I most definitely didn't play on either of those in high school.

UVa's cub and intramural teams offer students a great way to be part of a team and get a good competitive workout every once in a while. And as TJ once said:

"Give about two hours every day to exercise, for health must not be sacrificed to learning. A strong body makes the mind strong." 1785, Thomas Jefferson

Class Spotlight: Multicultural Education

With the close of the fall semester about a month away and registration for new classes around the corner, I began to wonder about the variety of classes that I've taken at UVa. Coming in, I thought I would be sitting in a lecture hall, listening to the professor ramble while the students sat absorbing the information and taking notes. While I have taken some classes that have fit this perception, I have taken a surprising number of classes that have been quite different.

For example, take my EDLF 5000: Multicultural Education class taught by Professor Bob Covert. Even though I'm in the College of Arts and Sciences, I was able to sign up for this class which is taught under the Curry School of Education. This is common among UVa's undergraduate schools--there are many classes open to just about any major. I walked in the first day and immediately was given my first assignment: sit next to someone that you haven't met who looks different than you and start a conversation. Little did I know that this would be the same assignment each week! Another one of our semester long assignments is to try and remember everyone's name! There is no textbook for the class because multiculturalism is not found in a book: it is found in the people and culture that we interact with everyday. The class is very much discussion driven even though there are about 75 students in the class. The professor doesn't give presentations while students take notes: the professor challenges us to think critically by asking the questions and then students stand up to give the answers. After a lecture of about an hour, we break into smaller discussion groups which are facilitated by undergrad's who took the class the previous semester. In small group, we delve further into what we explored during lecture and recount personal stories to see how the topics apply to our lives. It doesn't hurt that we bring snacks as well. Topics that we have covered in the class include racism, sexism, ableism, sexuality, education, prejudice, and culture. And yes...we do actually do work, writing reflection papers once a week about what we took away from class and writing papers on how our own experiences have shaped who we are today. In my opinion, the most meaningful assignment is a mandatory requirement to do at least 12 hours of community service, preferably with children. The point is to take what we have learned in class and see how it plays out in the community.

This class will surely be one that I will remember many years down the road. Classes like this are one reason why I'm loving my experience at UVa.

Picture by Steve Norum (CLAS 11')

Living as a UVa Student

It is late October, and time is running down. You're looking at schools with all sorts of questions swirling around your head. Which ones to apply to? Which one is your favorite? Will you like it better here or there? Where will you fit in best?

One great thing about UVa is that there is so much going on you are guaranteed to find something that interests you; an organization that you will love and want to commit your time to. And if there is something else you want to get involved in, and UVa does not have it, then you can create it! I am currently a part of Black Student Alliance (http://www.student.virginia.edu/~bsa/), the University Judiciary Committe (http://www.student.virginia.edu/~judic/index.php), and a program called "I Have a Dream" that mentors a group of students at a local high school.

The Black Student Alliance puts on many events such as Townhall Mixers, Ladies Cocktail Soiree, Black Men's Breakfast, Tailgates, and plenty of other social and political events. The University Judiciary Committee is UVa's student run judiciary system. "I Have a Dream" is a mentoring program that follows a group of students throughout their academic careers and helps them pay for college. The Charlottesville group is currently in the 10th grade.

All three of these groups I am very involved in and absolutely love. I have met some great people through these organizations and I continue to meet great people through them. Getting involved with something you're passionate about is one of the best ways to meet new and interesting people. So when you decide to come to UVa :) find something you love and get involved!

University Professors

If you’ve done even a little bit of research on UVa, you are probably well aware of the special lingo we use here around grounds. There we have a unique term already! “Grounds” instead of “campus.” You have also probably heard about how we say “first year” instead of “freshman.” An additional lingo tradition stems out of respect for the founder of our University who did not have a Ph.D. – Mr. Jefferson. Here at The University, faculty are referred to as Mr. or Mrs. instead of Doctor, even if they have a Ph.D. While such a tradition may seem silly, I think it highlights the warm, humble personality of so many of our professors here at UVa.

The University is full of brilliant and accomplished professors who are still relatable and available to students. My very first semester at UVa, my Economics professor, Mr. Coppock, invited me to attend church with his family and hosted a dinner at his house for our entire class. This semester I am taking a course with English Professor Michael Levenson and find each lecture so stimulating that the fifty minutes of class literally fly by. Though a leading expert on modern literature and critical theory, as well as the author of many esteemed works, Mr. Levenson is so relatable and engaging that he can somehow connect Joeseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness with last Monday’s episode of Gossip Girl. A few weeks ago, my Commerce professor, Jack Lindgren, invited our whole class over to his house for food and football. While watching the Patriots battle the Broncos, Professor Lindgren offered to give us golf lessons at Glenmore – the course on which his house sits.

As you can see, professors at The University do more than just teach students in class; University professors invite students to share in life together, and in doing so they develop the academical village into an academical family. Their willingness to allow students to refer to them as Mr. or Mrs. symbolizes their approachability and the fact that they care more about their students then they do about their title and own accomplishments. When you come visit our beautiful school, be sure to sit in on a class and experience the UVa faculty for yourself!

Fun Downtown

I've said it before and I'll end up saying it dozens of times over again to prospective students. Don't ask a magazine or ranking poll what college you should go to because you could end up seriously disappointed. Instead, figure out what you want in a college, and if writing out that list is difficult, then visit the colleges or universities you think you may be interested in. Talk to the students. Ask them what their favorite and least favorite things are about the school, why they chose the school that they did, and what do they do in their free time. It's so important to know that you'll have internships, jobs, sporting events, musical performances, and a host of other options available so that no matter what your mood is, you'll have the opportunity to go do what you want to do.

Now I must admit I love food. Restaurants, coffee shops, bagel stores, candy factories--they all sound amazing to me, and one of my favorite places to go to eat is Downtown at Chaps.

If you go to Chaps, you will probably get to meet Tony. This is Tony. He is awesome. Definitely one of the warmest people I've ever met, Tony is the kind of guy that always greets you with a smile and will remember your name. In general, I love diners because they remind me of Bethel Park, Pa where a majority of restaurants are owned by a family rather than a chain. The atmosphere is cozier, homier. I feel more like I'm walking into a friend's kitchen rather than somewhere less personable like McDonald's. Now, there's nothing wrong with McDonald's, but for me, I will always choose places like Chaps again and again because they are unique. McDonald's? The burger you get in Cleveland is identical to the one in Austin. You will not find another Chaps anywhere, and whenever you travel--be it for work, play, or whatever--go to these types of stores. Seek out those unique stores because that town is your only chance to experience them.

http://www.chapsicecream.com/menuchaps.htm
Pictures by Steve Norum.

We Run This (...no, seriously, we do)

One of the greatest traditions that we uphold at UVa is our devotion to the idea of student self-governance.  I’m not sure if this is a new term for you, but if it is, rest assured that it is not a difficult concept to grasp – it means what it says; at our university, the students decide which issues are important and, subsequently, the students lead the initiatives to make things happen.  From seemingly trivial issues, such as where to place recycling receptacles around grounds, to more grave situations, like trial proceedings for a peer accused of breaking the honor code, it is individual students who make up the groups that ultimately decide what happens.  Opportunities to join groups (which we lovingly refer to as “CIOs”) arise all the time, and, particularly, the Student Activities Fair that occurs at the beginning of each semester is when organizations do the majority of their membership recruitment.  Moreover (even though it seems like there is something for everyone here), if you find out that what you’re looking for doesn’t quite exist yet, you are encouraged to start an organization yourself!  Not only does it take the student body’s feeling of accountability to a whole new level, but it is a system that embodies everything Mr. Jefferson’s University stands for. 

Tonight was one of the rare occasions that the entire Student Council (StudCo) met as one (I think that only happens once a year, as Student Council consists of 200 members or so), and, with many of the students leaders at this university under one roof, it was pretty easy to latch onto the excitement and commitment that emanated throughout the room.  Split up into various subcommittees such as Student Arts, Athletic Affairs, Environmental Sustainability (this is the committee that I am a member of), Academic Affairs, etc., StudCo encompasses a vast range of topics that directly affect the University, and is the physical embodiment of the term “student self-governance.”  Among other things, in the past Student Council has: run campaigns to unify UVa with the surrounding Charlottesville community, worked closely with faculty to discuss plans for the University’s new president, partnered with local cab companies to provide free rides for students travelling alone at late hours, and countless other proposals that affect us all as UVa students.  So, aside from the other million-and-one brilliant reasons as to why you should consider the University of Virginia among your top choices of colleges, you can add our strong and proud tradition of student self-governance to your list!

As always, feel free to email me any questions!

Judy

Erin Go Bragh! Education Abroad

This semester, I'm taking my first UVa English class; Modern Irish Literature. It took my inner history major a bit of time to adjust to reading novels instead of manuscripts, but I've been really enthralled by all of the books, short stories and poems that we've read so far. So much so, that I've just signed on for a two week January term program with the professor of the course...in Ireland!

I always knew that I wanted to study abroad, but there was no way that I could leave UVa for a whole semester. So when I found out that I could take three credits in Ireland over winter break, I was sold. The course studies Irish literature, music and art, and our time will be split between Galway and Dublin. We'll spend part of each day in a classroom, and will then have the afternoons for cultural exploration. In taking walking tours, attending theatrical performances and engaging in conversation with local people, we'll get a fantastic sense of the true Irish culture that you can't learn about in a book. This will be my first trip to Ireland and I cannot wait!

UVa has a huge iniative right now to encourage students to study abroad, and the January term program is a part of that. UVa students have the oppurtunity to spend a semester, a summer, a year or a two week January term anywhere in the world; so study abroad can work into any schedule. And when I say anywhere in the world, I mean that quite literally. There are programs in every field of study on every (inhabitable) continent. We're still working on Antarctica...

I'm already counting down the days to my arrival in Galway (78 left!) and can't wait to post pictures and stories when I get back! As always, shoot me an email with any questions!