Roomies!

March 12, 2012 in Ruben, Student Blogs by ryamada | Permalink

Alright, I suppose that this is a pressing issue. For me, I lived with my family for 18 years so I was really nervous about finding out who I was going to be living with. I remember sending in my deposit for Gonzaga and receiving all the surveys that came along with registering for classes and finding a roommate. I filled it out very carefully and tried to ensure that I would get a roommate who was just like me. When I got the confirmation e-mail with the name of my roommate in late July/early August, I took his name and did what most people would. . . . I did some research on Facebook!

Nate, the great roommate; that is who I was matched up with. We were both Business majors but lived very different lifestyles. I was definitely in the dorm room more often than he was but when he was there we seemed to get along. Living with your family for a long time allows you to get adjusted to the way that they live. Getting a new roommate was a little intimidating at first – you definitely keep your side neat at least for the first week. Nate and I got along and tried to help each other with homework and such. Before coming to Gonzaga, we talked on the phone and decided who was bringing what and, luckily for me, Nate brought a refrigerator, microwave, and a tv.

Living with Nate was interesting to say the least. He was one of those people who simply “visited” the room and when we saw each other around campus, we would yell each other’s name out loud. I wouldn’t say that we were the best of friends, but that was okay! Look, the truth is most of the time your roommate will not become your best friend. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, that’s the way it happens. But the whole reason for living in a dorm and a residence hall is getting the opportunity to meet new people! Roommates teach you a lot about yourself. They teach you about respect for other people and their belongings, about meeting new people and adjusting your lifestyle to accomodate for their’s, and they help you become comfortable with confrontation and communication.

Your first roommate is definitely a special one, and whenever I see Nate, I definitely get flashbacks of moving in and meeting new people – and I am grateful. Don’t be afraid to try something new, to leave the comfort of your home, and take those first steps into the real world.

 

Ruben ’14
Accounting and Human Resource Management

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Gonzaga Bomb Squad 2011-2012

March 12, 2012 in Nikky, Student Blogs by nxiongxtoyed | Permalink

Today I just wanted to spend a little time talking about my amazing experience with the Gonzaga Bomb Squad. This year is not only my first year at Gonzaga, but it is also my first year on the Bomb Squad. You might be wondering, what is the Bomb Squad? Do they actually get to work with legit bombs? What do they do? Well, I am here to answer your questions. Bomb Squad is a hip hop dance team here at Gonzaga and we get to perform at most of the Gonzaga men and women’s basketball games during their time-outs, GEL weekend, and freshman orientation. The team currently consists of 16 girls and 2 boys and out of that there 5 seniors, 5 juniors, 4 sophomores, and 2 freshmen. Not only are we performers, but we are also student athletes coming from different backgrounds. There are girls who were originally cheerleaders in high school, boy and girls who have never danced in their life before, or those who had a different dance background other than hip hop. We are not only diverse in our dance backgrounds, but also where we came from. There are dancers from Arizona to California to Washington and even Korea! If any of you incoming freshmen are coming to GEL weekend, that is our last performance to watch us. Here are some pictures of the Gonzaga Bomb Squad. Enjoy. ^_^

WelcometotheJungle
This is a picture from our very first Bomb Squad dance put on at Gonzaga. Our theme was Welcome to the Jungle.

TEAM
Gonzaga Bomb Squad.

lastgame
About to perform!

yaya
Last basketball performance of the year. 8(

Gonzaga Student Body Association

February 29, 2012 in Connor, Student Blogs by ccahill2 | Permalink

Hello Prospective Students!

I just want to let you all know about a great organization there is at Gonzaga. It is called the Gonzaga Student Body Association! Basically, it is your typical Student Body Association but wayyyyy cooler. Each class has it’s own class officers, then there is an exectutive board (Speaker of the Senate, Treasurer, VP, and President) as well as Gonzaga Activities Board (GAB), which puts on all sorts of concerts, lectures, speakers, and other fun activities! This is my first year being involved in GSBA, and I am an Off-Campus Senator (there are 24 total senators). Through my expierence as a Senator I have gotten to serve on the Athletic Council, where I get to meet with all the Assistant Athletic Directors, and the Athletic Director, Mike Roth, as well as many other athletic staff. Also, I have served on the Academic Committee and the Neighborhood Community Coalition. I cannot say enough how valuable and rewarding it is to get to meet the administrators at the University, as well as great work expierence.

If you are thinking about coming to Gonzaga, think about applying for GSBA because it is awesome!!! Also, GSBA is a great way to work on prjects you are super passionate about. For instance, one of our senators has undertaken a mural project on the backside of Crosby, another senator is working to get a Green Fund going at Gonzaga, and yet another one has started a Sexual Health Awareness program on campus.

Thanks a ton and come to GU!

Connor

First Try

February 29, 2012 in Heather, Student Blogs by hdiaz | Permalink

My assignment in Music Theory II last week was to write a song.

Sounds easy, right? Wrong! I’ve written poetry and attempted writing song lyrics before, but I’ve never written a melody before in my life!

Luckily for me, music on this side of the world is predictable in its makeup, so I could create a simple melody using a simple chord template and general rules about shifting into different keys. Three hours of work later, I managed to produce my first music composition ever, titled “First Try.”

I handed it in to my professor and got it back two days later. I fixed the little mistakes I had using Finale, a score-writing program. It’s pretty cool, once you get used to the controls.

It was amazing replaying it on Finale. I’m not much of a pianist, so it was difficult trying to play my own piece on my keyboard. But to hear my own original piece played on a computer program…I felt highly accomplished. The long hours of work paid off!

I plan on working on a more complex melody with lyrics in my free time. Wish me luck!

My melody was partly inspired by this song. Enjoy, and see y’all next time!

Heather, Class of 2015
English and Music Education double-major

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Opening Tour: Rome!!

February 28, 2012 in Savannah, Student Blogs by smiller5 | Permalink

Hey Guys!!

The Gonzaga in Florence Program always has an opening tour for it’s students once they arrive in Europe. For this semester, our opening tour was in ROME! I was so excited to finally see the city that I have learned about as a kid! We visited the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Trevy Fountain, Michelangelo’s apartment, the Vatican, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Villa Borghese Museum! It was a FANTASTIC trip!! Even though we were constantly busy, we were able to learn a lot of incredible facts about Rome and the history behind the sites that we visited! Just being able to see all of these incredible sites was so overwhelming! Here are some of the pictures I took while I was in Rome!

Picture inside the Sistine Chapel!

Me outside of the Colosseum!

The Colosseum! It is so beautiful! Some Ruins in RomeThe Trevi Fountain!The PantheonPieta by Michelangelo in St. Peter's Basilica!

The Sistine Chapel!!

Homesick

February 28, 2012 in Ruben, Student Blogs by ryamada | Permalink

Being far away from hom during the school year is pretty challenging. I am from Maui, Hawai`i and it’s a challenge dealing with weather and climate, the time difference, and the seasons. All of this just reminds me how far away from home I really am.

Today, in particular, is fat tuesday or mardi gras! In Hawai`i, we celebrate by eating delicious malasadas. It’s a pastry covered with sugar and it’s delicious! I’ll have to post a picture. Anyway, I thought about it so much today, that I posted something about it on facebook. Every once in a while, you just have to think about your family and how everyone is doing at home. And the thought of my family eating malasadas while I was in Spokane, not only made me miss them, made me jealous.

You meet so many people here at Gonzaga, though. I feel like being here at Gonzaga has allowed me to create a new family. Whenever I feel like I want to go home, I simply turn to them for comfort and I know that I can always get it when I need it. The best advice that I ever received from this “family” here at Gonzaga is this: “If you were at home, how much more would you really be helping your family?” And I thought about that for a while, and realized that me being here meant so much more than being home. Gonzaga is preparing me for success and is allowing me to experience new things that I could never dream of at home.

So if you’re still trying to decide on which school to go to, I encourage you to broaden your horizons and consider those schools that may be a little farther away from home; it will surely give you a chance to spread your wings and soar!

Here is a photo of a Malasada!
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Ruben ’14
Accounting and Human Resource Management

Busy Busy Busy!

February 21, 2012 in Heather, Student Blogs by hdiaz | Permalink

I rarely used planners in high school, but for college they became a necessity for me!

While filling out my planner for the week, I realized how many things I had to keep track of every week. For example, on Mondays:

-9:00 am ~ Class. Luckily, this class is located in a building only 5 minutes away from my dorm, so I don’t have to get up too early!

-11:00 am-2:00 pm ~ Class. I have 10 minutes between this solid 3-class block, so I usually get something small and portable to eat between Music Theory and English.

-5:00 pm ~ Studio class. Students taking voice lessons from the same teacher meet up once a week as a whole class. We sing our songs for each other and receive advice on how to improve. This might sound scary, but it’s actually a very relaxed class.

-6:00 pm ~ Work. I work in the Admissions Office in College Hall for 3 hours, and part of my job is posting blogs for you guys to read. I’m an English major, so writing these is one of the most enjoyable aspects of working here.

-9:00 pm ~ La Raza Meeting. These meetings are one of the highlights of my week. They’re a great way to see friends I may not see all the time, and we always seem to be laughing about something.

Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays are more relaxed for me, Wednesdays are my busiest, and on Saturdays I have dance practice for 3 hours! However, the key is to find things to do that you actually enjoy. Then, it’ll feel more like play than work, and time will go by a lot faster!

Planners are lifesavers, and so is music, so I’ll show y’all one of the many songs I play after a long day. Enjoy, and until next time!

Heather, Class of 2015
English and Music Education double-major

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My Winter Break Part 2- The BEST Part!!

February 16, 2012 in Nikky, Student Blogs by nxiongxtoyed | Permalink

So, here is my last post about my winter break. Although I only spent two weeks in sunny California and did a lot of travelling, this is by far my most favorite part about it. This winter break I was fortunate enough to be a part of two Hmong news broadcasting team, one in California and another in Wisconsin. I got the privilege to interview many people who not only attended the Hmong International New Years in Fresno, but also the contestants who competed in the cultural dance competition, the singing competition, and the beauty pageant. This experience has taught me a lot of things about myself and my own Hmong people. I’ve learned that my English is overpowering my native tongue of Hmong, that the younger Hmong generation is changing a LOT, and that there are DEFINITELY Hmong people all over the world! While I was in Fresno, I also had the chance to see my most favorite Hmong band LIVE, Destiny!! Ahh. The concert was amazing and I almost got to touch the lead singer’s hand!! ^_^ Below are some pictures from my amazing second half of winter break.

UsGirls
Here is a picture of my sisters, my cousin, and me.

KouserYaj
This is the second place winner in the singing competition, Kouser Yaj from Wisconsin.

1stPlace
This is the first place winner in the Beauty Pageant. Her name is Joua Xiong from Oklahoma.

2ndPlace
This is the second place winner in the Beauty Pageant. Her name is Maiher Vang from Wisconsin.

3rdPlace
This is the third place winner in the Beauty Pageant. Her name is Hli Yaj.

These are pictures of me interviewing random people at the New Years Celebration.

vik

umm

uhh

And here’s one of me ball tossing. ^_^

balltossing

Here’s a quick link to the youtube clip of me interviewing. 8) The language I am speaking is Hmong.

Thank you!

Nikky Xiongxtoyed
Freshman
Political Science
me

2012 Charity Ball!

February 13, 2012 in Heather, Student Blogs by hdiaz | Permalink

I’m not much of a dancer to begin with, but I’m very fond of swing music, so why pass up the opportunity to go swing dancing with friends AND help out a charity?

The Knights and Setons of Gonzaga held their annual Charity Ball this past Friday, February 3rd, and it was held to benefit their sponsored charity, The Artisans. The Artisans is a non-profit organization with a mission to improve the employment and standing of their mentally and physically handicapped clients. If you’d like to read more and learn more about this charity, feel free to visit their website at this link.

This was the first formal dance I’ve attended since my senior prom in May 2011, so I was excited to dress up! And what better way to go about this than to get ready with your friends? The music was great-I applaud the jazz band at the dance. They even played “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got that Swing,” a song I sang for choir years ago! Overall, it was a great opportunity to hang out with friends I haven’t seen much of since last semester. 🙂

And with that, I leave y’all with a modern jazzy tune. Until next time!

Heather, Class of 2015
English and Music Education double-major

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Charity Ball

February 13, 2012 in Ruben, Student Blogs by ryamada | Permalink

This weekend, I went to a dance, if you will, put on by an organization withing the Gonzaga University Community. The Knights and Setons of Gonzaga hosted their annual Charity Ball in Cataldo Hall. There was lots of music, pictures, “normal” dancing, and even swing dancing that occured at this event. I thought that it was really cool to kind of improvise on swing dancing because I had never done it before in my life. (BTW, the Knights and Setons of Gonzaga are two organizations on campus created with the foundations of service and leadership, you apply during your freshmen year and are active your sophomore year!) Anyway, back to dancing. Gonzaga has a lot of events that occur on the weekends. A lot of students have asked how I’ve spent my weekends and this is a perfect example. So here it is, a typical weekend (& a dance).

Normally, my friends and I make plans to get off campus. This particular weekend, we decided to take a 15 minute walk downtown to a sushi restaurant called Sushi.Com. We had dinner there for about an hour and chatted up a storm! We then headed back to campus to get ready for the night to come. At this time it was about 9 pm. Gonzaga is a safe community so it is usually alright for us to be walking around. However, if something out of the ordinary happens and someone is threatened, Gonzaga’s Campus Police (CAMPO) immediately notifies all students of faculty of what happened and advises students to be cautious. So, we got back to campus, safely, and changed into our nice clothes. Me and my friend walked over to Coughlin to pick up our dates to the dance and took pictures with them there. We headed to the dance and stayed there for about three hours. After that, we headed over to our on campus restaurant called “Spike’s” (named after our wonderful mascot) and ate some frozen yogurt. The night ended with us walking the girls back to their dorm and heading back to our room for a well deserved rest.

Now, I am not saying that this will happen every weekend, but this would be an ideal break from studying – For myself at least. Of course there will be some nights where you hang out in the dorms with friends watching movies, playing video games, or hanging out on Mulligan field tossing a ball around. This may sound typical, but your college experience is what you make of it. You need to realize that, yes college is about studying, but it is also about making life-long friends. BE SOCIAL! and get ready for some fun memories, Future Zags!

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Me and my date Hikaru.

Ruben ’14
Accounting and Human Resource Management

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