A Student Specimen

College kids are poor. College kids like money. Duke University researchers, well, they research A LOT.

What does all of that have to do with anything?

I have a plan. Probably the greatest "get rich quick" scheme ever and it's perfect for college kids. There are fliers posted everywhere soliciting studies which are in need of participants. If you take the time to read them you'll learn that each participant is compensated for his or her time and it's never any less than $10/hour. It's pretty easy to make some good money here if you take the time to pull the slips with contact information and send out an email to the researcher to learn more about the study and participation. This morning I completed my first study and am already $10 richer! I have 3 more studies scheduled for the next week and managed to grab more slips.

Now, I don't want anyone to worry. I am not volunteering for any medical clinical trials. Most of the studies are some sort of psych or sociology study and at most require a saliva swab!

I am a student specimen.

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful Covergirl!

First, you should know that my creative juices almost titled this post: Extra! Extra! Read All About it... Between the two, you should get the idea that:

I, (insert my full name here*), was on the cover of today's issue of The Chronicle.

The Chronicle is the daily student newspaper. Generally speaking it does a nice job of covering campus events, issues, studies, sports...you name it, along with some big time stories from the rest of the world that is not Duke University.

So, now that we've established the title of the post and some general Duke knowledge:

Tah-Dah! Your's truly!

So what is this all about? This weekend was Duke's homecoming. In light of such, the alumni association and President Broadhead host "The President's Ball". It's kind of like your high school homecoming dance in the gym, but with a live band and a free bar. Well my dancing partner, Eduardo (a friend who lives down the hall and is from Puerto Rico), and I found ourselves on the dance floor getting our funk on and having ourselves a fine time when the student photographer obviously decided that we were photo worthy. The rest is in the picture...as they say, a picture's worth a thousand words!

A picture of the girls from my hall before heading out:
*The astrisk denotes that internet safety precautions stopped me from typing my full name in this post...mainly to humor my mother who is a little concerned about things like this and was opposed to my blogging in the first place for this very reason! (Don't worry, she's recently come around and told me that she actually enjoys reading my blog.)

The Halls are Alive with the Sound of College-kids!

It's been a little quiet around the dorm recently. Duke undergrads were fortunate to have Monday and Tuesday off for Fall Break, giving us a nice four day weekend. Most students who live in the southeast, northeast and midwest ventured home to see family and friends who might still be around. So yeah, you could say it's been quiet. Tonight was a reunion though and it's safe to say that the halls are alive once again. I left the deserted dorm for basketball practice late afternoon and arrived back to a lively one...people in the hall ways, music spilling over through walls and doors, stories being swapped and laughs shared. Though I did not venture out of the dorms it's good to be "home".

All this talk about break probably begs you to ask the question of what the heck was I up to while everyone was away? Well, there were a few other students stranded here with me...mostly international and west coast kids, but hey, we stuck together and life was good. Friday night a bunch of us went to the men's soccer game. We lost to UNC 2-0...it was disappointing. Saturday I went on an adventure with a group of friends. We hit 9th street, which is our pathetic attempt at a college street. Really though, its kind of cute...just very small (2 blocks, maybe). We also came across a small park. Sunday we went in another direction in Durham to a small shopping area called Brightleaf Square. A lot of the shops and eateries were closed due to it being a Sunday, but we got a nice feel for what it had to offer. Other than that it's been a mixture of hanging out and getting some work done.

All in all, it was a nice to have some down time and a chance to explore the area.

The Basketball season officially kicks off Friday, Homecoming is this weekend and parents and family weekend is the weekend after next. So be sure to stay tuned for a lot of exciting happenings here in Bull City!

The Real Duke Experience

There is only one thing which really challenges academics for students' undivided attention at Duke. It is the reason that students camp out from the first day back from winter break (and in some cases, come back early from winter break) until March. The man in charge in this case is more revered and revered by more students than the "man upstairs" himself. Need another clue? It starts with B and ends with asketball. You guessed it...Duke Basketball.

This morning marked the beginning of what is sure to be a stream of memories by the time I graduate. It marked my beginning of what is surely a most memorable experience of any Duke alum. So, at 4:40 am when my alarm went off I grabbed my backpack for the day, donned my best Duke sweatshirt, wiped the sleep from my eyes and joined the ranks of Cameron Crazies. See, this morning tickets went on "sale" for the exhibition game. Yes, you read that correctly. All of this for an exhibition game. A game which will mean nothing to the selection committee come March, to any AP Poll voter, to our ACC standings and which will not garner us bragging rights in the face of any Tar Heel. All of this for tickets to the exhibition game against Virginia Union. Just who is Virginia Union? Don't ask me. I've never heard of them. All I know is that we will be playing them on October 25th and that I will be at the game with my Dad who will be in town for Parent's and Family Weekend.

So, lets recap...what was all of this madness this morning that got me out of bed at 4:40 am and took me across campus to sit in line for two hours?

Duke Basketball.
'Nough said.









Caption: "Is that the basketball team?" you might be asking yourself. Afterall, they're all wearing matching "warm ups". In fact, that is not the basketball team. Those are our line monitors. It is safe to say that basketball ticketing at Duke is a serious serious business. Something we do not take lightly...and yes, my newest Duke dream is to be a line monitor!

From New York to New Year

So, this past weekend I was in NYC with my Focus program. We met at 4am in pouring rain on Friday to drive to the airport. Once we arrived we did your standard airport things--security, food, check in, etc--and proceeded to the gate to board the plane. Our plane ended up being a really small commuter plane so to board it we had to walk across the tarmac (see picture below). The storm complicated our travel (the plane was overweight) and they needed two volunteers to deplane and catch a flight leaving ten minutes later to laguardia (instead of jfk). For 400 Delta Dollars a very spontaneous Risa, who has always wanted to take advantage of such opportunities, volunteered to join two of her other classmates who volunteered earlier when the flight was overbooked. Well, then plane had to land in Baltimore to get more fuel...we finally made it to NYC. We grabbed a cab with our free ground transportation voucher from Delta and went back to one of the other girls' houses. Before we met up with the group we stopped at a neighborhood diner for some grub. Then we caught up with the rest of our Duke group at JP Morgan's Library and Collection. After that we went to the Museum of Modern Art, which is free on Friday evenings. We spent the night with Jackson, Mark, Pablo, Marc and some other fellows ;) We grabbed some food and called it a night. The next morning we went to the Cloister museum, which was the coolest thing I saw with Focus while on the trip. Basically, before customs really cracked down on this sort of stuff, people stole entire buildings and/or parts of them and made a museum of it in NYC. The architecture was spectacular. On our way back downtown to the Metropolitan Museum of Art spontaneous Risa jumped off the bus when she saw the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. Unbeknownst to her, there was some martial arts competition and the museum was closed :( The guy at the front desk let me in, though, so I walked around and saw cool stuff. I made it back downtown to the Met in time to meet up with the group and see some of the Renaissance exhibit. After a little bit, a few of us left to go find some tickets to a show for that night. A friend and I got some tickets for Gypsy which was starring Patti LuPone and Boyd Gaines. Between getting the tickets and showtime we spent time checking out fifth avenue and the surrounding areas. We also made our way to the top of a sky scraper. All in all, it was a really fabulous trip. Oh, and I'm a public transportation expert.







Back at Duke, it's now Rosh HaShannah. I spent the majority of my time at the Freeman Center (Duke's Hillel). Meals were tasty and services were well attended. Wishes for a wonderful 5769 to family and friends who may be reading this and who are Jewish.







Some New York Pictures: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001310&l=f1a5e&id=1018950065


The cloisters:


Broadway! NYC In Love! (above)/MoMA (below)Me and Jackson Me and AndyMe and MarkBoarding the Plane!