Andrew's Blog
Name: Andrew Infanger
Major(s): Theology, Minor in Art and Pastoral Ministry
Hometown: Ballwin, Missouri
Extracurricular activities: Resident Student Association (RSA), University Ministry, racquetball, Polish Club
Hobbies/interests: Watching a new movie every week, playing guitar, racquetball, going downtown, sleeping in, reading, video games
Class of: 2010
Contact Andrew with questions and comments: infaandr@dom.edu
Title: Helping Out
Date: 11/18/09
This past weekend I volunteered at a thrift store called New-To-You in the near west suburbs of Chicago. Several friends and myself piled into a mini-van at 9:30 a.m. and drove over to the thrift store. I had never been before, but several of my friends had been. When they came back from the store in the past they raved about the good times they had and the fun clothes they bought to contribute to the store once they were done volunteering as well. This time was no exception. There were many different personality types running the store. There was Collette, the manager. She was very direct and obvious manager material. There were older women who helped appraise items in the back. There were middle aged men who worked in a workshop area, doing light repairs on furniture and keeping things running physically smooth in the store. There were teenagers from local schools putting in volunteer hours and small children who sat in the back because their parents were volunteering. In fact the whole store was run by volunteers, except the manager. The proceeds from the sales went to support three separate Christian schools in Chicago.
I have not volunteered much in the regular sense, helping the poor, etc this year, and this made me want to do it more often. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer one's time on and off campus, and I don't have many excuses for not volunteering off campus. I don't have any service learning classes this year with required service, so I don't have to volunteer for a requirement, but I should still do it more. The school practically hands you volunteer opportunities as well. The deadline for alternative break applications is November 30th. There is a service learning expo filled with opportunities to volunteer off campus, but the brochures I picked up from that spilled into the back recesses of my cavernous desk (my desk is taller than I am and I have to get on top of my bed to see the top), along with so many other obligations that I have forgotten about this year. This weekend however, I have a chance to help out with Habitat for Humanity, and I am excited.
Title: Alternative Break Program
Date: 11/3/09
This past week I started working on a poster for the Alternative Break program, which is run through University Ministry as well as other offices such as service learning. I decided that I wanted to make the best poster that was ever made. I realize now that it probably won't be the best ever made, but while working on it I started thinking about whether or not I want to attend an alternative spring break trip myself.
The reason I wouldn't attend an alternate break program is that that is the weekend I get to see my grandparents each year. They live in Florida and don't come out to St. Louis to visit, but will let me fly out to visit them over spring break for a week. It is not a typical "Spring Break" in Florida. There is no wild beach party or anything like that. I spend a lot of time talking with my grandparents about their own lives and about my life. I get to step away from my computer or cell phone and busy schedule and take time to read, swim, canoe, go on walks, visit with my other relatives who come and visit. It is hard to decide whether or not I want to spend time for my family or spend time helping others. I get to see my family other times usually, and have been going to Florida for 22 years now (I am 22), but I still have to decide whether or not I want to see my family. Right now I am leaning towards visiting family. It may be my last "spring break" as a college student, but I may also have more time to see them once I am out of college. Another issue is I have never done an alternative spring break. I have done service immersion trips and other types of volunteer service, but never over spring break and never to any of the areas that we are supposed to go to. I have until November 30th to decide, so I will be thinking about it until then.
On a lighter note, I met with the registrar today to go over my senior audit. The registrar goes over your academic record and makes sure you have taken all of the classes that you need to graduate, and that your GPA is high enough. It looks like I am on schedule to graduate, so that was pretty good news.
Title: Long Weekend and hiking
Date: 10/28/09
We had our fall break this weekend. It was pretty exciting. I got to sleep in two days in a row, which makes out to be a really exciting weekend. I normally don't get to sleep in so I was looking forward to it. A lot of people went home for the three day weekend, but seeing as I live in St. Louis, going home is more complicated, and I wouldn't be able to sleep in if I had to get up early to catch a bus. It is important to have a plan as to what you are going to do during a long weekend or a break at Dominican because there are not a lot of people around so you have to be prepared to do something.
One thing I did this weekend was drive over to Palos and the forest preserves over there. When someone thinks of Chicago they don't usually think of the outdoors or forests or anything like that, and they are generally right. Chicago is interesting in its great skyline and downtown, and is a wonder on its own and a wonder different from that we might find in nature. But there are little nooks and crannies of nature around that you can find if you know where to look. My friend Shannon and I went for a several mile hike in the forest preserve and it was a nice break from the city. The leaves are all turning from their summer greens into their fall reds, oranges, yellows, and all the in between colors that I can't think of right now were on the trees and on the ground floating through the air. We saw two deer, some woodpeckers, some frogs and some other animals, and the air was just cool enough to keep me from breaking a sweat, but not cold enough that I was cold. As we were walking back to the car, it started raining and it rained for the whole hour walk back, but it wasn't a driving rain, just a light mist.
We drove back to school just in time for dinner, and it was a great end to a relaxing weekend. I didn't go anywhere far away, didn't have to wake up early or really worry about any work or homework or anything. This next weekend is Halloween and I have papers and tests coming up so I doubt that I will have many relaxing weekends coming up soon until Thanksgiving, which actually is coming up sooner than I think. The semester is half way over; it goes by quickly.
Title: Homecoming
Date: 10/22/09
The homecoming dance was this past weekend. Homecoming is not the biggest deal on campus. There is no football team to have a big parade, no banners for them to run through or do any of the other things that might happen on a traditional homecoming, but the dance was fun. My friend Lauren was in charge of organizing the dance, and my friend Mike was the DJ for the dance. I arrived late, making my fashionably late entrance. I wore suspenders, no tie. It was somewhat formal but not really formal, and you could wear whatever you felt like. I don't really "dance," I am not quite sure what you would call what I did, but whatever it was, I did it and it was at the Priory campus in the auditorium.
I just got back from a retreat as well. It was called the Student Leaders and Ministers retreat, or SLAM for short, and I learned quite a bit. I am involved in University Ministry, and applied and was accepted to the Student Leader and Minister team. The retreat allowed us to focus on our faith as well as why we were on the team, and then come up with some concrete plans as to what we should do the coming year. I was put in a group that is in charge of planning the "Busy Students Retreat." It is for students who are too busy to go somewhere for an entire weekend but still want to take some time out of their daily lives. It's in November, and I am looking forward to it. This next weekend is our "fall break," which is more like just a regular week without my art class. We only have Friday off this year, so we still have to go to school the rest of the week. It seems short, but considering we had four full months of summer and a long Christmas break, I can't complain too much. I am not going anywhere, but a lot of people go home for breaks like this so I will have to entertain myself. My girlfriend is going to Minnesota to visit some friends. I might get some work out of the way for next week, go for a walk or watch a movie/read/sleep in. We will see. I usually go somewhere myself over fall break, and it seems like this is the first weekend in a long time where I really don't have anything planned, so hopefully it will be good.
Title: Comparing schools
Date: 10/9/09
This past weekend my girlfriend Stephanie took me took a Notre Dame football game with her family. This doesn't seem like it would have anything to do with Dominican, but it gave me a frame of reference as to how I can view the years I have spent at Dominican. The campus at Notre Dame is much bigger. It doesn't even compare. At first that seems like a really cool thing, and it is. You meet a lot of new people all the time. There is an amazing school spirit and a lot of other great things about a big school. It made me think of the things I like about Dominican, however. I can go to the dining hall for four years and know almost everyone in it. I am the opposite of lost, and could quite well imagine getting lost on a campus with as many people as Notre Dame. I can write an article in the newspaper even though I am not an aspiring journalist, and have people all over campus recognize me and tell me they appreciate what I wrote. I have never had a class with over 25 people in it. I have never had a professor who didn't know me by name, and most still know me from years past even though I haven't taken another class from them.
Going to the football game was a new experience, and completely different from sports on campus here at Dominican. There isn't the same spirit on campus here as there is there. There is no elite or favored athlete on campus at Dominican, no famous quarterback or anything like that. We are all on the same level more or less. As someone who has been turned off by extensively competitive sporting activities in the past, I like that. Another thing I like about Dominican versus a bigger school is its proximity to the city. Last week I needed wood carving tools for my printmaking class, so in between classes my friend dropped me off at the L, and I went downtown to the art store to pick them up, and took the L and the bus back in time for my evening class. It is a great break at the times a small school can seem too small. I can step into a city that is overwhelming in size. There are a lot of things that Notre Dame has that Dominican doesn't, but I am glad that I chose Dominican. I would have probably made friends there as I have here, but they wouldn't be the same. I think that is the biggest difference.
Title: Busy semester and roommates
Date: 10/2/09
School has begun in full swing. In hopes that I could take a light course load, I only registered for four classes instead of the usual five or six. The spare time I was hoping for seems to be disappearing before I know it. The different groups I am involved with this year seem to be taking that extra time. A group of students and I have begun meeting in the ministry center on Tuesday nights to discuss our faith and pray together. It is a good compliment to my major as well as my own personal life and has become a time I look forward to every week. I also began writing for the school newspaper. I have only written one opinion article, and I don't consider myself much of a journalist, but it went well and people seemed to like my article overall.
This coming weekend my girlfriend and I are going to a Notre Dame football game with her parents and her brother. I have never met her brother, and it is always interesting to meet new family members. When I visited her over the summer, I met her parents as well as some of her cousins, friends, and her grandma.
My roommates read my last blog and seemed upset that I did not mention their names so I will do so now. One of my roommates is Derek Zdeb, and he is from Park Ridge, Illinois. He plays baseball and tends to keep the room smelly with his sweaty post-practice clothes. He is a computer science major and really likes doing things with computers. My other roommate is Jon Campbell and he is from Homewood, Illinois. He is studying graphic design. It is nice to have someone who knows something about computers in the room, in case anything goes wrong with my own computer. Jon is colorblind, so I don't seek him for advice when putting together fancy outfits for my nights out, but he helps critique my own artwork. Jon doesn't really exercise but does a great job at remaining sweaty. He also claims to have brought 30 t-shirts so he only has to do laundry once a month. I don't know how he fits all his clothes in the closet, but I guess he can pull it off.
Title: The beginning of school
Date: 9/24/09
This school year started off with the six hour drive from St. Louis to Chicago. It is usually uneventful, and this time was no exception. By the time we arrived, my parents were both tired but not too cranky yet and we unloaded my stuff with a moving cart without a hitch. After we finished loading everything into my room, my mom made my bed and I started putting things away in the closet. I did not get to finish everything because there were still a lot of furniture pieces that were not in the room yet. I had my refrigerator stored at a friend’s house for the summer and would not be picking it up for several days. The other refrigerator and microwave wouldn’t come until my two roommates arrived the next day. The couch came several days later as well as the bunk bed loft. I bought the loft from the person who was using the room last year. It allows us to raise up one of the beds even though there is no bed under it. That way we have our couch underneath the lofted bed, which faces the big flat screen TV that is in the corner of the room.
I have never lived with two other people in such closed space for this long before so I am kind of interested to see how the year plays out. I don’t really have any worries about specifics. The only thing that I can think of is the room may get messy and smelly. One of my roommates is on the baseball team so he has all his sweaty clothes and gear. The baseball gear combined with the two other people’s stuff in the room may make for some smelly nights.
I am also fairly lucky that I did not need to bring a TV or a microwave or any furniture. Both my roommates live in Chicago suburbs and brought their own furniture and appliances. Overall, the room looks pretty nice. I like the rooms in Power Hall better than Centennial or Mazzuchelli because they don’t have white fake tile floor. The floor in Power Hall is a dark red/maroon and doesn’t show dirt and scuff marks the way the other floors do. The closets are solid dark wood and are set back into the walls so they add a nice touch. The windows are new, unlike Mazzuchelli, and actually open without sending off shards of rotting wood or getting stuck. Also they don’t rattle or howl in the wind at night the way the windows in Mazzuchelli did last year. The only bad thing about the room is there is no cabinet behind the mirror this year. You have to bring something to put your toiletries in or else they will just be on the sink or the window sill. I brought some metal crate pieces that you assemble and can turn into makeshift shelving. In the past I have used them to put my clothes in but they were great for a little shelf next to the sink as well.
I am looking forward to this year. It is my last year so hopefully it turns out as well as I hope.
Title: Preparations for the new year
Date: 8/16/09
The summer seems to be winding down. As usually happens, I don't seem to get done everything that I had planned. I haven't gone on an adventurous camping trip. I haven't gotten lost anywhere. I didn't see any shooting stars during the latest meteor shower. But I did do a lot of things that I planned on doing. I worked, not too much, but enough to save up for school and spending money for the next year. I spent plenty of times with my friends for what could be my last summer staying at home. I am still unsure as to what I am doing after I graduate this coming school year. I am somewhat excited/nervous for this coming school year. I am not nervous about moving back to school, I have done that a couple times and it is nothing new to me anymore. I don't really get homesick or burnt out every year. I am more nervous about what comes next when I graduate. I don't really have anything in particular in mind, and my major doesn't really have a specific job that people flow into afterwards the way education or accounting or nursing or other majors such as that would. The only thing to do is to not worry too much or have too many preconceived notions and go through with it all, hoping for the best.
There are some things I have to do to get ready for school. I need to remember which things I did not use for school last year. I am a theology major and somehow I ended up with three bibles in my room, but one usually does the trick. I don't need the bag of tennis balls that I brought last year, or the trench coat. I didn't wear it once. I need to go to the store and buy extra toothpaste and soap and maybe a carrier to put my toiletries in, instead of bringing the soap into the shower wrapped up in a ball of paper towels. I don't have a car at school and it makes things just a tad bit inconvenient to have to go to Target to buy supplies. The school's bookstore does not carry too much in the way of personal items as one might think. It is less of a convenience store the way some other school stores are that I have seen, and more of just a plain bookstore, as its name would suggest. I have to finish up writing my journals for my internship which could take a little bit of time, as well as putting in some last minute hours in at work to save up some more money for next year. I can only work ten hours on campus, so saving up money is hard during school. The winter months make it hard to get around on my bike, so having an off campus job is hard, although I was a nanny during my sophomore year. The most important thing I need to do is get organized. I need to buy a new calendar, buy my books and notebooks, and get my mindset straight about how I want to approach the year academically. I take a look at what I did last year and try to change. I need to put my alarm clock across the room so I can wake up on time and not skip class, as well as go to bed on time so I am not so tired that I shut off my alarm without knowing it.
I am looking forward to next year despite all the things that I am thinking about and worrying about. I will be rooming with two people I have never lived with before and that will be interesting. Hopefully there will not be too many video games/loud ruckus that I get distracted, but I know I have little spots and rooms on campus that I can get away to if I need to relax. Overall, the summer has been great but I am ready for school.
Title: Summer in St. Louis
Date: 7/1/09
The beginning of my summer was a whirlwind of activity. School got out on May 1, and I didn't arrive home until May 20. I spent the first two weeks or so of summer vacation on a class trip to South Dakota and Montana. We slept in sleeping bags on church floors and cooked our own food over campfires and stoves. The trip was for a class on Native American spirituality.
The day I returned from the trip and went to St. Louis where I live, I started working at Papa Johns Pizza, delivering and making pizzas. It is not the best job ever and can be pretty stressful at times, but they were willing to hire me back right away for the summer. Considering the job market right now, I felt pretty lucky. I have been working about 20 hours a week and in between have been reading, sleeping, and volunteering at my parish youth group in Ballwin, Missouri.
There is always a bit of transition coming from dorm life to home life. At school I don't have to ask permission to go anywhere, I don't have anyone to wake up when I come in late, and I don't have to be on time for meals. At home I use my parents cars, so I have to coordinate things around their schedule. I can't make much noise when I come home at night, and I can't have people over at all hours. I can't blare my music in my room the way I can in the dorms. An angry parent is much scarier than an angry RA.
My friends back home are pretty similar to my friends at school. We like to play video games and eat, which seems to be pretty consistent wherever I go. One of my favorite things about being back home is the fact that I can go hiking in and around St. Louis, and there isn't much opportunity in Chicago to go hiking. Sometimes the skyscrapers downtown make a good backdrop to a long walk, but I tend to like trees and hills, bluffs and rivers over tall buildings and concrete streets. It gets pretty hot here, usually about ten degrees warmer than in Chicago, so it is a nice break from the cool weather, but by the end of the summer I am ready to see some snow in the long Chicago winters. I do miss my friends from school, and I miss the atmosphere of Chicago, and the lights at night. For me, summer is a good break, but by the end it is usually just long enough.
Title: Easter Break
Date: 4/17/09
I spent my Easter break, which consists of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday, at my aunt’s house in Mount Prospect, IL. It is about 40 minutes away from school. My parents drove in from St. Louis and picked me up, and drove me to my aunt’s. I made sure to bring all the important things a college student needs for a trip to a relatives house, namely homework and laundry. I am glad that I was able to eat at my aunt’s house. She is a great cook, and there is no meal service at Dominican over breaks, even short breaks like Easter.
I arrived at my aunt’s house and it was bustling with activity. My cat’s cousin (my aunt’s cat Spanky is literally my own cat’s cousin) was at the door and rubbed up against my leg, leaving a heavy coat of leftover fur on my pants. My cousin Mikey was screaming for me to play Legos with him. My cousin Elizabeth had three friends over who roamed the house, seemingly lost. Joseph had his girlfriend over, my brother arrived with his girlfriend, and my aunt had several of her friends as well as myself and my parents. I decided to head upstairs and play Legos with Mikey, and after about 20 minutes he was bored, but I wasn’t so I stayed in his room and finished my creation while he went and ran around outside. After I came downstairs my aunt served some appetizers, which I am not used to having at my house, out to dinner, or anywhere else really. We had dinner followed by poker, and then I went to bed.
The only downside to staying at my aunt’s house is the sleeping situation. I generally have to either share a bed with my cousin or put couch cushions on the ground and wrap myself with blankets to keep warm in their cold basement. The next day we woke up early for Mass, and afterwards, I played outside with Mikey as the rest of the family set up for the Easter egg hunt. Around 11:00 a.m., more of my cousins came over including my 4-year-old cousin Daniel and my 2-year-old cousin Isabella. I was greeted with a big Hellllllllllloooooo from Daniel and a hug, although I doubt he remembers seeing me considering the last time I saw him he couldn’t walk. The Easter egg hunt was exciting and entertaining, watching the little kids hop around the yard searching for eggs and getting way too excited when they found them. Dinner was good, and after dinner my parents drove me back to school so I could finish up on some homework before class on Monday. This was my first Easter away from home, but it didn’t really feel like it.
Title: Scheduling and Yoga
Date: 3/26/09
So I finally bought a calendar/planner last week. I have never used one in college, and although I generally make my meetings/deadlines on time, sometimes I will forget and show up late. I decided I should get with the program and get one. Here is a tip for anyone thinking about getting a planner. Getting a planner will not make your life less busy/complicated, it just makes you more aware of it! It is more convenient to know when things are going on or to be able to be on time for things.
I find it funny though that I bought a calendar right before the last month of school, I think any help the calendar could have been to me would have been in the beginning of the year when I was just getting settled into classes, or at least at the beginning of a semester. I somewhat wish I had been used to using one even before college so that I had the system down pat by the time I got here. It’s hard to remember what stuff to write down in it and what stuff not to.
I did another thing this last week that I don't normally do. I went with two of my friends to Bikram Yoga. I have never done Yoga before, so it was pretty intense. It was intense not just because it was a lot of stretching and breathing through the nose (I'm a mouth breather), both of which I never do. It was intense because the room is at quite literally about 100 degrees. I haven't sweated this much since high school wrestling practice. Another strange thing is people don't really wear clothes except their sporty underwear, so I got to see all of the “yogaers” (I don't know what to call them) in all of their God-given splendor, and especially sweaty. The lady leading it said it would pretty much cure all of my medical problems that I could ever have, so I would never need to go to a doctor again. All that happened was my legs were sore for a couple days and my allergies went away for about two hours. She recommended we come several times a week. Unfortunately, my current income doesn't allow me to spend $17.00 to stretch several times a week. I guess I will have to keep seeing the doctor under my parents’ insurance.
Easter is coming up soon, and my parents will be heading up to Chicago for Easter, which means I won't have to sit on a bus for 6 hours each way to go home and see them. And it also means they will be taking me out to dinner. Although not having a car and living far away has some negative points, it also has its perks. Your parents (not always though) will come visit you usually once a year and buy you stuff, specifically food. I like food. Speaking of food, I am going to eat dinner. Have a great week.
Title: A Warm Spring Break
Date: 3/8/09
I got a warm-up last week when the weather got up into the 50's and 60's before I left for spring break. At the same time Dominican decided to install a fishing pond just outside the dorms, so my friend John and I took advantage and set up a little "fishing trip." There was some sort of water main leak that caused water to gush out and fill the "mini quad" (or the quad between Power and Coughlin halls.) We took two chairs from the front of the dorms and got some sticks and twine and pretended like we were fishing, but really we were just enjoying the weather. We heard the joke, "did you catch anything...what about a cold?" many times and it really wasn't that funny, but I guess it was funnier than us pretending to fish in runoff water.
Skip ahead a few days and now I am actually in Florida where I could fish for real if I wanted to, if I didn't think fishing was pretty boring and if I knew what to do with a fish once you caught it. The last time I went fishing was in Ely, Minnesota, and a snapping turtle ate my fish off the stringer. That was five years ago. So now I am having a great time not fishing in Florida. My brother and I went out on a canoe for about an hour in the canals behind my grandparents’ house. We made an attempt to paddle out into the Robert's Bay, but were forced to turn around because the wind picked up and the waves became extremely choppy, the wind literally spun our canoe around and pushed us backwards. We decided we could possibly paddle out into the bay, but we didn't want to flip the canoe in the waves, and I am somewhat afraid of deep ocean water. In the afternoon we went to the beach where I fell asleep in the sand for two hours and got a sunburn.
My grandpa is fairly (by fairly I mean extremely) conservative and only watches Fox news, whereas my brother tends to be a bit more moderate, and our meals have consisted of my brother and my grandpa having political debates. He calls my brother "Obama" and joked saying he was going to write him out of the will. They made a truce though and said that they won't talk about politics anymore. After dinner we looked through old photo albums and talked about when my great grandpa died. My trip comes to an end on Wednesday when I will head back to St. Louis for the remainder of my spring break. (It began on Saturday.) I will be taking the Megabus back to Chicago on Sunday morning, so I am saving up my homework and reading for the six-hour trip. Then I begin the last stretch of school until summer starts.
Title: Rainy Day
Date: 2/26/09
It thundered today for the first time in months, but it is sort of a trick. I looked at the weather to see if it's going to get warmer outside, and it’s not. It is still supposed to be in the thirties for the next ten days at least. I generally don't get excited for school breaks because I enjoy staying at school, but I am visiting my grandparents in Sarasota, Florida for a week, so I am really excited for the break in scenery and weather.
Even though the building I live in is something like 90 years old, it isn't that bad. Some people in the other dorms have complained about their rooms getting too hot and them not being able to turn the heat down because they have electrical heating. All I have to do is throw my window wide open and prop open the window above my door and I get a nice breeze. There is also an essential for anyone living somewhere that doesn't have air conditioning. It's called the Chillow, and it is this cooling pad you can stick inside your pillow and it keeps your head cool at night!
Despite all the rain, I can't complain too much because I only have to walk outside about 30 steps to get to my classes, unless I find a door propped open to the gym, in which case I don't have to walk outside at all. It was a sad day when I saw them sealing off the old entrance from the dorms to the school with plywood. Something about safety and what not; they want people to enter the dorms through one main entrance.
This afternoon I am attending a discussion with Bishop Gumbleton from Detroit. He is giving a talk later this evening in one of the auditoriums, but students get a chance to have a much more personal and interesting discussion with him in the ministry center, which I tend to like better than the talks. We had a similar thing with Kathy Kelly who is also a very interesting social activist if anyone has a chance to look her up on Wikipedia. I tend to find these kinds of talks more interesting than others they have on campus. I am not as involved as I would like to be in social justice, but I like to stay informed regardless. I generally glance at a couple papers each day in the library just to check what is up. And with the weather, there isn't much else to do but read.
Title: Thinking about Spring
Date: 2/12/09
Not a whole lot has been happening this semester. I have myself pretty much situated into my schedule which is good considering it’s about midterm time. Although, I forgot I had to work on Sunday and then today I showed up for work two hours early, but I guess that just about evens things out. Spring snuck in a little this week. The temperature got up into the fifties at least and maybe higher. I broke out the shorts and t-shirt, and even sat on a bench for a while. The grass was still too soggy from the snow to have good grass-sitting.
This semester seems to be much easier than the previous one. I don't seem to have as many papers or projects and overall the classes (except for Spanish) have been much easier. I hope none of my professors read this; they might assign some more work or something. In my free time I have been contemplating spring a lot more than normal, as well as playing guitar. My friend Hannah and I decided to start a band, but so far we haven't really gone much further than that.
I have also been watching a lot of the PBS Frontline series. They have just about every episode they have ever aired on the PBS website. With all my free time instead of doing productive things like reading for class or become more involved, I have been watching documentaries. While I wasn't watching PBS, I would usually be downloading music, but the program I used to download shut down their system. I went to log into Ruckus and got a pop up saying they shut down, no explanation or anything as to why it shut down. I don't like to buy music haphazardly, and I refuse to get iTunes or an iPod because I have already sold my soul to Microsoft and I don't want to split my sold soul in half to Apple. So now I am stuck with the music I have. It was quite irritating, almost as irritating as the Cyber-Cafe food service here, but I won't get into that.
My life seems like it is a bunch of random tangents lately and I think my blog fairly reflects that. I don't know if anyone watched the Superbowl, but I just thought of the "Pepsuber" ads which made my day. I love MacGruber, and Pepsuber made me happy, even though I really don't like Pepsi. Have a happy Valentines Day!
Title: Tired of Winter
Date: 2/5/09
Winter is starting to get a little old. At first it was nice to be able to put on a warm ugly sweater that you got for your birthday but never wanted to wear or to smell the cold air and occasional scent of a wood fire. Snow angels are fun, as are snowball fights and snowmen, but eventually the snow because to turn black, or yellow, or red, or some mix of the three. The cold air starts to make your teeth hurt, if you are a mouth breather like me, and the 30 yard walk from the dorms to the academic buildings becomes a burden, especially in sandals and a t-shirt. Your 80-year-old dorm room with poorly sealed windows is cold, especially the linoleum floor, so it is much easier to sleep through classes than in the fall or spring.
At first, trudging through snow can be fun, but by now I just want to lay out in the grass in the quad—not in the low lighting and silence of the reading room. I miss riding my bike. I am not one of those bike riders with the tight clothing and streamlined helmets and shoes. I am the kind you see with torn-up pants ankles because they keep getting caught in the gears. I don’t like riding on the streets because it’s scary, and in winter the sides are covered with snow/ice/water. Plus, I forgot my helmet at home. I generally ride on the sidewalks, but they are covered with snow too. Not owning a car is a bummer in the winter (as well as a blessing—no flat tires, no shoveling snow, no gas prices). Going to the bank or the store becomes more of an adventure sometimes.
I feel as though this whole global climate change/global warming thing just isn’t coming to Chicago. Around the world glaciers are melting, Greenland is pouring into the ocean and the ice caps are melting, but Chicago, it’s just cold. I actually did visit a school in Florida near where my grandparents lived, but I thought to myself “I would miss having all four seasons.” I suppose I would miss the seasons, but it is easy to forget about the others sometimes. So, if you didn’t catch it from the tone of this blog, it’s easy to complain in the winter.
Title: Study Abroad in Rome
Date: 1/21/09
Besides having a frightening experience on the streets of Rome, I actually did a lot of sightseeing in Rome. The purpose of the trip was a short study abroad class focusing on Church history, as well as some renaissance artwork. There were about 30 students who participated. Some of the highlights include a very long hike up to the top of St. Peters Basilica, and despite the slight rain, I could see most all of Rome. The Coliseum was pretty interesting. They have these people that stand out front dressed like Roman soldiers, and they get really upset when you take pictures of them without paying them. They may also chase you and try to take your camera off your neck and shout Italian profanities at you.
The Catacombs of St. Sebastian just outside the walls of Rome along the Appian Way are pretty much as you would imagine, but they are colder than you think. When you see the sarcophagi they look small, and you may wonder how they fit bodies inside of them, but in fact my friend and I both fit into them, so no worries. The guide said that there were approximately 7 miles of tunnels in just one of the catacombs that we were in. As soon as she said this, my friend looked at me and we both had the same thought, “let’s get lost!” Fortunately, we decided against this and made it out of the catacombs in about an hour.
Another interesting site was the church of San Clemente. It is a somewhat modern church (compared to the Coliseum or the catacombs) sitting on top of an ancient church which is sitting on top of old Roman barracks. It costs 5 Euros to go down into the ancient churches, but thanks to the magical skills of one of our trip leaders, Hugh McElwain, we were able to go down for only 3 Euros. Besides Rome, we went to Florence as well as Assisi. Perhaps I will go into the others later. Arrivederci! (One of the few Italian phrases I learned. Also they love Prego sauce, and they can’t stop talking about it. Go figure.)
Title: Racing through Rome
Date: 1/19/09
I had perhaps one of the most terrifying experiences of my life over Christmas break. On January 5th I left Chicago for a short study abroad trip to Rome, Italy. The trip was for a 3-credit course that covered Church history and a little bit of art. We went to Rome, Assisi and Florence, and visited famous churches, ancient catacombs and art galleries. The highlight of the trip was also one of the craziest things I have done. I have never skydived, I have never bungee-jumped, but now I can say that I rode a moped through the streets of Rome. Imagine a city the size of Chicago, except the streets are not straight, are not labeled, and most of them are cobblestone. Also pretend that there aren’t really lanes. Then add in over a million scooters and you are close. Finally put in practically no experience riding a moped and there you go! It was a very scary but exciting ride through Rome. If you could describe the streets of Rome as a food, it would be spaghetti, a big mess of spaghetti.
My friend and I thought it would be a fun thing to try, so we planned on renting scooters even before the trip began. When we walked into the rental place, we were a bit scared. The rental “ store” was an Italian guy’s apartment with a folding card table in the center. On the table were a bunch of scratched up helmets, a credit card machine and some maps. He gave us helmets, had us fill out a waiver and then pulled the mopeds out of the garage. He showed us how to turn them on and let us on our way. As soon as we pulled out onto the streets we were enveloped by traffic, scooters passing me on all sides, as well as cars. I felt like I was in a tornado of automobiles. Luckily the only time I fell off was in a parking lot. My friend was not so fortunate. He skidded out and crashed while taking a right hand turn, damaging the scooter and getting some minor road rash. A little bit of advice for anyone considering renting a scooter in Rome, don’t do it.
Title: Studying, Sleep and Santa
Date: 12/04/08
Thanksgiving break went pretty well. My brother picked me up on his way from Milwaukee and we drove home to St. Louis, it took about five hours. I ate pretty much non-stop at home and slept until 2:00 p.m. most days, so I would say it was pretty productive. We didn’t have any family over, just my parents, my brother and me. I came back to school on Sunday morning with my friend Lauren.
Finals week is next week, but fortunately (or unfortunately depending on who you are) most of my finals are papers and projects, so I only have to go to two of my classes during finals week. I got a job working for my friend’s dad’s snow removal business, so besides papers and projects, I have been pretty busy. I can sleep over winter break.
Thursday I will be dressing up as Santa for “pictures with Santa.” I am not quite sure why they picked me to do it; I don’t quite look like Santa, but oh well. My friend Mike comes home from London today, so we hopefully will get to hang out. I work security until midnight, and then I have to finish a paper for tomorrow. This weekend coming up I will be playing guitar at a retreat in River Forest on Friday night and Saturday morning, and I think on Saturday afternoon I am going to the Shedd Aquarium to visit the fish.
Next week is finals, and then I am going home. I usually don’t get too stressed out over stuff, but this week is starting to push it. I think what I look forward to most over break is being able to sleep in. Shoveling snow until 2:00 a.m. and then going to class at 8:30 a.m. is tiring. At home I could potentially sleep all day and never leave my room except to eat and go to the bathroom, unfortunately I don’t know how well that will work.
I plan on working at Papa John’s Pizza over break to earn a little more money before I go to Italy. Yep, Italy. I am pretty excited about it, and you should be too. I have never been to Europe and I hear it is a blast. I also get three credit hours for going on the trip. It sounds like a deal to me. My friend Todd knows some people in Rome, and he is going on the trip, so hopefully we can meet up with them and they can show us around a bit. We will get to see a lot, but I think it would be fun to go around with someone other than a tour guide. I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving went well and that everyone has a good winter break.
Title: Week of Adventures
Date: 11/20/08
This last week was fairly uneventful if I remember correctly. My friend Jon bought the game "Blitz the League" for XBox, and we have been playing that pretty often, usually when I should be doing homework. They showed the "The Dark Knight" in the Social Hall Wednesday night, and I was able to catch most of it. It was pretty good. I think my favorite part was when the computer that the movie was playing on was only projecting a blue screen. My friend got up and just shook the computer. At first we yelled at him, because shaking a computer does not work to fix it, but this actually worked. Then everyone broke out laughing and applauded, followed by someone shushing everyone because they couldn't hear.
My mother came from St. Louis to visit over the weekend. We went to the fall musical (Into the Woods) and had dinner in the social hall with my friends. Sunday we went to the worst restaurant in Chicago, Ed Debevics. The waitresses make fun of you and throw things at you. Of course their jokes aren't funny, and they can't dance, nor do they wear clothes that fit. I don't like it when the waitress’s bare stomach touches the table I am eating at. Anyway, my mom got a kick out of it, so I guess it wasn't all bad. Plus, I got free food, which is good because I may run out of meals before the semester is over.
This weekend looks pretty busy. I have two research papers to finish before Dec. 12th, and I need more sources to actually write them. I am participating in the 24-hour fast during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, so I won’t be eating from Friday at midnight until Saturday at midnight, and I love eating. It seems like a lot, but it isn't that bad. Hunger comes in little waves and goes away. It feels somewhat like "survivorman" on the Discovery Channel (which is FARRRR better than Man vs. Wild, for many reasons. He carries his own camera gear, 50 lbs of it, and he doesn't have a camera crew to help him out if he’s in trouble, and he plays guitar and harmonica in the wilderness.).
On Saturday, I have to wake up at 8:45 a.m., which is somewhat irritating considering I normally wake up at around 2:00 p.m. on Saturday to make up for my lack of sleep during the week. I am going shopping to get prizes for an auction that RSA (Resident Student Association) is putting on. Then I might go to the Christmas lighting downtown to see what it is like. It seems pretty bright downtown at night anyway. My friend is having a birthday party at her apartment Saturday night too, so I might go to that. On Sunday, I am playing guitar at Mass and finishing homework. Monday afternoon I am putting on a concert in the chapel with a musician I met in high school and one of his friends (www.joelsteinmusic.com). Thanksgiving is coming soon and I am excited. Then it will be winter break, which will be about a month long. I love snow.
Title: Meet Andrew
Date: 11/11/08
Hi my name is Andrew, or as most of my friends know me at school, Pokey. I am a junior at Dominican, studying theology with a minor in art and pastoral ministry. I am not sure what I will do after college, but it’s coming pretty soon. I will probably do something that involves helping others, which is pretty broad I guess. Over the past couple summers I have worked at a summer camp and at a pizza place.
I am from the suburbs of St. Louis and usually go home on the major holidays. I found a great group of friends here and that’s who I spend most of my time with. There is usually one of them up at all hours if I need anything. During the week when we aren't doing school stuff we usually watch weird movies and play video games. We usually eat dinner together in the dining hall. I think they remind me of a dysfunctional family. I play racquetball twice a week, and I also play guitar at Mass on some Sundays.
Life at Dominican is pretty sweet. I am a five-minute walk from classes as well as food, and I get to go downtown whenever I want. Saturday my friend took me to a Thai restaurant on Michigan Ave, and Monday I went to see the band "In Flames" at the House of Blues. I have an aunt that lives about 40 minutes northwest of here so I took the Metra train to see her. Having the trains close by is pretty helpful.
When I am not out with friends or studying I can be caught reading random books I find, playing guitar in my room, or drawing in my sketchbook. I don't own an iPod, and I doubt I will get one until they are required to be an American. I love music, but I like to listen to what’s going on around me when I am not in my room. I love the outdoors, so sometimes the yellow glow of the city is irritating, but I can step out into the forest preserve to take a walk if I want. It is best in winter when the sound from the cars is muffled and there is snow everywhere. I'm looking forward to giving you a peek into my life throughout the coming weeks!