Earthquake!

As we all have heard by now, there was an earthquake yesterday. I happened to be lucky enough to experience it at Umass Boston. I was on the 8th floor of the library studying for an exam when the earthquake hit. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life. Everyone around me looked confused. I think it took us all time to register what was going on. Some people were a little panicked. It was especially scary when the light fixtures overhead were swinging. The library is a pretty sturdy building but it was shaking! I decided to grab my stuff (probably a bad idea considering) and head for the nearest doorway. By the time I made it there it was over! The whole thing only lasted about 30 seconds but it felt much longer.

About a minute after it ended they sounded the alarms. I walked down the 8 flights of stairs to get out of the library. This is were it gets weird. There were some Umass faculty telling us that we needed to leave campus. The campus was closed. No one was telling us why exactly. No one was confirming whether or not there had actually been an earthquake. So, now the entire student population is scattered outside around campus. Those who left in their cars were charged on the way out! Can you imagine, we are all pretty shaken and told that we have to leave campus but given no real reason. However, Umass was organized enough to make sure that no one left the parking lot without paying. This school really blows my mind.

The Transformer

We have all seen that eery looking steal sculptor driving into the Umass campus. It is right near the soon to be science building. Any ideas on what this might be?

Art!

For the rest of this semester I will be detailing some of the more interesting artwork found around campus. The first piece is that strange bronze man with the red hat. One of my professors called it the menstruating ironworker this evening. Let me know if you have some favorites and I will post them here!

Native America Summer Festival

Umass Boston co-sponsored the 2011 Harbor Island Native American Summer Festival. It was held on August 6th (wish I had seen this sooner). The New England Center for Native American Studies at Umass Boston help hold this even on Georges Island. There was a lot of Native American culture represented at this event. I think this is so cool!! I am Native American and I am totally unaware of any traditional practices. I would have liked to see some of this traditional performance.

Fall

Fall is upon us. September 6th is the first day of fall classes. I thought summer just started? I guess I will have to make the most of my summer vacation August 26th until September 5th.

Finals?!

There are only two weeks left in this semester! So, in two weeks I will be sitting for finals. I cannot believe how quickly this summer session has passed. With that said, I need to start studying!!

Wall Climbing?

I am little confused to say the least. Maybe someone can help me with this one. On the first floor of the campus center, near all the comfy couches, there appears to be some kind of wall climbing device. This "thingy" looks likes a spider web and has a big blue cord hanging from it. Do we offer wall climbing in the campus center? Or is this device yet another piece of puzzling Umass Boston artwork?

Twin Tacos

This summer I have had the opportunity to become familiar with Umass Boston's culinary offerings. To be honest I am not thrilled by my options, there seems to be a lack of healthy options. After being at school for 5 hours I decided I needed to stop being so picky and grab some food at the cafe. I was on a budget so I decided to opt for the meal deal. For $2.99 I could get myself twin tacos and my choice of 2 sides. I got the tacos with some cheese and salsa and decided to get some rice and a side of carrots. Let me just say this there is a reason why this meal was was only $2.99. First the taco shell was stale, the rice was bland and salty, and the carrots where shriveled and bleeding butter.

This may seem like a rant but I really like to eat and this meal really took the wind out of my sails.

Bayside Exposition

As most of us already know, Umass acquired the former Bayside Exposition Center. I was interested about what the school was planning on doing with this enormous property. On umb.edu I came across the strategic plan for the new property. According to the plan the project is said to be complete in 2017 (hopefully I will be graduated from Umass by then haha).Aside from all of the new architecture, I was especially taken by the objective, which is to continue the relationship with the community. The university does not want to disrupt the neighborhood around the campus.There is also going to be measures taken to maximize the waterfront property. The university wants to improve traffic flow, by making the campus more pedestrian friendly by including walkways and bike paths.

Infestation!

I may have discovered something new about Umass Boston, we may have a rodent infestation! Here I am minding my own business studying in the campus center when all of a sudden what do I see out of my periphery? A MOUSE!!! I am terrified of mice. My normal reaction would be to stand on my chair and start to scream. However,  I was around a lot of other people who were being nice and quite attempting to study at 10 pm. I quickly decided against that reaction. So, what I decided to do instead was blog about it.

Summer Classes

I know this really has nothing to do with the discovering Umass technically but I cannot believe that next week is the start of my midterms. Correct me if I am wrong but did classes not start 2 weeks ago? I guess that is the price you have to pay in a 5 week summer course. Is anyone else in the same boat?

UMASS Boston..The Campus That Never Sleeps

Here I am at school for a little bit of late night studying. I was expecting it to be quite and empty, one of the things I enjoy most about taking summer classes. However, it looks like we have a break dancing club and apparently they run there practices from 9:00-10:00 pm. So, as I am writing this blog club music is echoing throughout the campus center.

Construction Updates

Drive into school I noticed that the campus is adding a new building, the Integrated Science Complex. I am excited that the campus is updating itself, as we all know with the exception of the campus center, the buildings are outdated and lost in decades past. I wanted to learn more about the project so I went on the umb.edu. I learned that Umass has a portion of their website dedicated to just construction updates. I learned that we are also updating Wheatly Hall by adding solar panels. I think this is pretty cool.

What will I find next?

Hidden Gem

Last night I had about an hour to kill before my class started. Although it was sort of raining out I really wanted to do something outside. I was at the campus center so I crossed the street to go sit by the water.When I got ovet there I realized that there was a whole walking path along the waters edge. I had no idea that it was even there. So, for the next 20 minutes I walked around. It was a really nice little spot. I am mad at myself for not seeing it before!

School Mascot

Matt gave me an interesting idea for this post. Does UMB have a mascot? Well after some research I have discovered that we are Beacons. There were a few different images I discovered. The first was a light house looking image and the second appeared to be a fighting fisherman of sorts. To add to the confusion I found a picture of someone dressed as the mascot, and this individual looked like a can.

Does anyone have any more insight?

Welcome to my blog!

I have attended Umass Boston for 4 years now (soon to be 4 1/2. During that time I have been the quintessential commuter student. What I mean by this is, I would park my car enter class and exit the campus as soon as classes ended. I was in no way interested in what UMB had to offer other than academics. However, as come upon the conclusion of my Undergraduate education, I am motivated to find out what I have been missing out on.For the remainder of this class I will search campus looking for what I may have overlooked :)

I hope that you will accompany me!