Life at USD

Welcome Back to San Diego

2010-01-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

Another winter has come and gone and my junior spring semester has commenced. I spent most of the winter break at home volunteering for my town’s first aid squad in New Jersey. I currently have been trying to keep as up to date as possible with my favorite MTV show, The Jersey Shore as humanly possible. It is one of the most important day-to-day conversations I have with close friends. But back to reality; I arrived back in San Diego a week earlier than school started to spend some time fighting off the jet lag, spending quality relaxing time with friends, and to spend time in beautiful San Diego. But as my luck would have it that week was when San Diego was hit with massive rain storms. Since I am not from San Diego, I have experienced rain as have most other people as well as flooding. But according to some people they believed that water is no big deal and they would drive through puddles in streets that were better defined as lakes than puddles and not make it through the puddle. Long story short it was a long week for San Diego and it was sad that some people’s houses were flooded but we San Diegans learned a valuable lesson: don’t drive through puddles. The first week of classes is over and everyone is getting back into the swing of school mode. The semester is looking like a lot of work but it would not be complete without flowboarding at the WaveHouse. Hopefully next week students will be back to the normal horrible parking styles and we can have a winning FAIL park job of the week!

The Last Hoorah

2009-12-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe but it is the last full week of school. Everyone is anxiously anticipating finals and then Christmas break once they are done with finals. Not to mention it is the first day of the semester where it has rained, which is ridiculous coming from a hometown where it could be sunny one day and snowing the next. Apparently driving in the rain is also very dangerous and annoying since it is not a usual occurrence. But I’m sure San Diego will live to see tomorrow and we will still have our finals and we will all be having a relaxing break sooner than later.

Parking Job of the week:

Bring on December

2009-11-30T08:54:00.000-08:00

Whether or not I want to believe it, Thanksgiving break is over and there are only 2 more weeks of classes and then a week of finals and the semester is over! It is crazy to think that I am half way through my junior year here at USD. I do believe the words of the Famous Ferris Buller capture this idea very well, “Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” So for my thanksgiving break, I spent it doing the things I enjoy: flowboarding, watching Ferris Buller’s Day Off, eating home cooked meals, and sleeping. So needless to say no homework got done over break but I guess this is pardon my French but hell week for all the students here so wish us luck!

Excitement on Campus

2009-11-22T10:39:00.000-08:00

What a week! Lots of tests before Thanksgiving break which is right around the corner, and the new restaurant, La Gran Terrazza, has opened on campus (FINALLY!). It includes full sit down restaurant services and a bar/lounge. To learn more about the new restaurant follow this link: http://www.sandiego.edu/dining/lagranterraza/. Also basketball season has started and football season has come to a close. The Toreros basketball team has had an exciting start to their season by defeating Stanford to outweigh the football team’s loss to Southern Utah University for their last home game. On December 2^nd the Torero basketball team takes on SDSU, our closest rivals, so be there to cheer your Toreros on!

Shout out to Mr. Chi City

2009-11-08T23:04:00.001-08:00

Dear Mr. Chi City, I’ve seen your Mr. Chi City gets a ticket video and I am currently experiencing somewhat of the same situation. I cannot say I have been ticketed for parking out of the lines, but I think some of these people should be. On our campus there is always 1 epic fail a day at least of people trying to park. I mean I don’t even understand how these people passed driving school! Isn’t parking one of the things you need to pass before being handed a driver’s license? Mr. Chi City please make a video about your opinions on these photos!Mr. Chi City, I’ve seen your Mr. Chi City gets a ticket video and I am currently experiencing somewhat of the same situation. I cannot say I have been ticketed for parking out of the lines, but I think some of these people should be. On our campus there is always 1 epic fail a day at least of people trying to park. I mean I don’t even understand how these people passed driving school! Isn’t parking one of the things you need to pass before being handed a driver’s license? Mr. Chi City please make a video about your opinions on these photos!

Keep On Truckin'

2009-10-26T21:43:00.001-07:00

School keeps going and it seems like I’m trying to catch a runaway train. A lot of my classes are about reading the material on your own and the professor helping you with issues about the material rather than teaching it to you. Maybe it is because I am in upper division classes now or maybe that is how all college classes are and I just finally realized how to study for them. But anyway if you have been following my blog, previous ones talked about the Goldfish challenge and currently only 2 fish are still swimming: Golden Bear and Krackin’. Not to jinx anyone but I have my money on Golden Bear. 2 weekends ago Sean Kingston graced our campus by kicking off homecoming weekend, the only problem was, we students sang more than he did. And then this weekend was our fall holiday, which means we have Friday off, which is not much of a holiday for me since I always have Fridays off, but it was nice that everyone was free to relax and spend time together this weekend, since they all had an extra day off. The people that really made out like bandits were those who don’t have class on Thursdays and had a 4-day weekend. I take my hat off to you. Everyone is getting prepped for Halloween on Saturday and then before we know it, Thanksgiving will be here where we all get to eat 15x our weight and then sleep it off with all that tryptophan! Until next time, goodnight from San Diego.

Unfortunate News

2009-10-15T10:02:00.001-07:00

It is with a heavy heart I deeply regret to inform you all that the following Goldfish have passed away: Keak-da-sneak, Yager, Chuck Norris, and Daniel's fish. Memorial services were held in the San Juan 1st bathroom, few were in attendance but their memories will live on.

The Life and Adventures of San Juan 1st

2009-10-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

Being a RA there are ups and downs to the job. One of the perks is getting to know my residents and plan events for them. Recently two residents have taken it upon themselves to draw portraits of their favorite RA, paying close attention to my defining details. As you can see in the pictures, the most noted feature in both photos is my beard. The beard has spawned nick names such as grizzly bear, lumberjack, mountain man, wolf man, and bear grillz. Not only is the beard a defining characteristic of mine but also my sunglasses. I always have my sunglasses and apparently I have them when I am fighting a bear. So thank you to the boys in room 104 Ryan and Garo for these wonderful portraits, they will be lifelong treasures. In other news, the hall I am in charge of has become an aquarium. Currently we are holding the goldfish challenge which entails every room receiving a goldfish in a bag and by any means necessary keep their goldfish alive longer than any other rooms’ goldfish. You might ask why would they want to keep their goldfish alive. Well there is a cash prize involved and competition has become so fierce in the first week that there are already plans to sabotage other room’s fish. The best part about the competition so far is the makeshift aquariums that were made the first days the rooms received their fish. The aquariums ranged from used solo cups to empty garbage cans and the saddest one was a whole bottle of Hawaiian Punch was poured out to make room for the goldfish. To win the cash prize the rooms must name their goldfish and make them a name tag on their door and I have to say by far my favorite name is Kanye West who belongs to my man John. I will update with rooms that no longer part of the competition due to the unfortunate passing away of their fish.

Another month here and gone...

2009-10-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

This has been determined the best way to stay healthy during the flu months; wear camo, face mask and aviators.

It’s hard to believe but another month has come and gone. Some of my friends have already been looking at classes they are going to register for next semester; which I think is crazy. But yes it is that time of the year where all professors are giving exams, there’s due dates and such but I just have one question: WHY THE HECK IS SAN DIEGO SO COLD RIGHT NOW?! I mean I’m from the east coast and upper 50s lower 60s isn’t cold and I’m sure it did not help that I spent last weekend in the desert where it was much warmer. So maybe I’m just not acclimated to it yet but there is no way I will be going to flowboarding class without a wetsuit tomorrow. School has been the relative normal school, wake up go to classes, eat some food, go to more classes and then eat some more food and then go to bed. But of course its not that bad as long as you get involved on campus because tonight my living community has a meeting tonight with FREE FOOD and time to get our thoughts of school and relax and enjoy the company of others. But I must get to doing some homework since I don’t have class on Fridays the weekend starts tomorrow for me at noon and I don’t want to be thinking about homework all weekend! And I almost forgot the most important thing this week is my interview with Target on Friday so wish me luck! Later!

Countdown to Halloween: 24 days

Summer's Gone?!?!?!?!

2009-09-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

Summer is over and we are a few weeks into school. I never thought it would come this fast! Summer was short lived because I spent my summer working for the company LaserPerformance, marketing sailboats at race events this summer. That was from the end of June until the day I left to come back to SD for RA training. I am a RA in the housing area called the valley here at USD. I have an awesome group of freshmen residents and I am having a great time getting to know them and help them through their first year here at USD. But in other news not much is going on here, everyone is getting back into the swing of things and studying for the most part. My schedule is comprised of mostly business classes with one theology class and of course another semester of flowboarding (you can read up about flowboarding in earlier entries). Not to mention no class on Fridays, which my science major friends are mostly unhappy about. But since I’ve been free for a while I haven’t been up to much, just normal mascot duties where we beat Marist 17-10 our first home game!!!!!! Go Toreros!!!!! But it was short lived when the railing for the belchers fell off, but luckily no one got hurt. Upcoming event at USD: Fall Transfer Day Friday September 25^th at 8:30am; hope to see you there!!!! That’s it for now, keep checking back for updates about USD!

Some links to check out:

http://www.sandiego.edu/insideusd/?p=2882

www.laserperformance.com

www.sandiego.edu (look for a picture of a guy with a beard! That’s me)

Finals

2009-05-16T04:32:00.000-07:00

This week is when finals start and all the USD students are study-struck…well all the USD students except for me. All of my business classes either had projects as a final grade or an exam that was given during the last week of school. But you can’t hate me because I do have 1 final for my fine arts class that I have to take as a General Education requirement that I need to graduate. Sound Art (my fine arts class) is that class all of the students are from different majors and no one really knows what the class is about. We have all conversed about the final and have come to the conclusion that no matter how we prepare for this final no one is going to ace it. Therefore, studying for this final is not a top priority of mine. I have been spending my time at the pool, beach, and playing basketball with my friends I can convince to take study breaks. As if lying by the pool wasn’t enough relaxation, I’m skipping town for a few days and I’m leaving the beautiful San Diego to go see my sister graduate in Boston, I’m actually on the plane there right now. When I get back to SD it looks like I will have to put my nose in the books for this final at least for a few hours before I take more naps by the pool. Then right after my final I’ll be back on another plane home to start the summer! In a matter of 7 days I will be traveling over 7000 miles and then I will be sleeping for 3 days after all that.

Oh dear....

2009-04-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

The end of the semester is approaching rapidly and everyone is excited, yet at the same time is not ready for it. The end of the semester means projects are due, exams are coming up, and we will actually have to pay attention in class. The weather is also becoming a factor as well. It is sunny and 70 almost every day without a cloud in the sky making it even harder for us students to bring ourselves in from the beach and into the classroom. But I cannot say these past few weeks have been full of classes and no fun. I threw my friend a surprise birthday party this weekend; I’ve started preparations for being a RA next year, and saved $13.34 at the grocery store. Another highlight of these past few weeks is that my friend started his own company called SlouchBack. It is a blow up backrest that turns your dorm room twin extra long bed into a 3 person couch. I was lucky enough to get one of the demos and constantly use it in my room. It is the perfect alternative to a futon because it doesn’t take up space when you aren’t using it. Therefore you can use the space of your dorm room to its full potential. You can learn more about SlouchBack at http://www.slouchback.com/ or check out their Facebook page. Well that’s it for me I have to go finish my projects, papers, and start studying for tests so I can enjoy the summer in 16 days!!!!!

Another Break Here and Gone...

2009-04-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

Another break has come and gone and it is the day before school starts, which means everyone will be working on the homework they meant to do every other day during break. The great part about break is the ability to see all your friends you never get to see because they are swamped with as much work as you are. Last weekend I went out to the Colorado River with a couple friends where we were the only ones crazy enough to go wakeboarding this early in the season. We also did some hiking, off-roading, and some cliff jumping into the river. It was a well overdue weekend needed to get away from school. And this weekend I headed up to LA area where we spent the day at a park skateboarding, reliving our childhood memories of playgrounds, swings, monkey bars, etc., and just hanging around. Not to mention awesome home cooked meals from our friends’ mom. What I’m getting at is that if you don’t go home for breaks there is always something to do. Get out and explore the state you are in, everyone says this is the only time you might have to travel and see the world so live it up.

LA for the Day

2009-03-31T18:59:00.001-07:00

The best way to keep from Southern California making you too soft is to go visit LA. Here is where I had my first experience of Sonic fast food; which was amazing. I had a sonic burger and an ‘ocean water’ drink which was my favorite. Then I wondered about downtown LA which I determined should only be done during the day. Nothing against LA, but just as any other major city you should not wander around its downtown late at night. Not only did I spend some time downtown, I made it to the Nokia center which is directly across the street from the Staples Center where I was attending the 24 hours of Chivas USA promotional event. Here the Chivas USA team was getting ready to begin their season and wanted people to come out and support them. Outside the Nokia center they set up a miniature soccer field where people had signed up to play on at hour intervals. The main event was when the Chivas USA cheerleaders took on the Southern California sports mascots. The game ended in a tie due to the strong determination of the mascots to win and the inability of the cheerleaders to defeat the giant-headed mascots.

Vegas Spring Break

2009-03-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

Spring Break has come and gone and no one was ready for this week of school. I traveled to Las Vegas for the West Coast Conference tournament where USD’s men’s and women’s basketball teams competed for a spot to advance to ‘the dance’. The weekend consisted of a 7 hour bus ride from San Diego to Las Vegas on Thursday night and continued on Friday with a women’s basketball game where the Toreros upset San Francisco and later the men’s team defeated Loyola Marymount; which in turn bought us another night and day in Vegas, which no one had any complaints about. Saturday the Women defeated the Pepperdine Waves, but unfortunately the men fell to the Santa Clara Broncos. The men’s team put forth their best efforts, but could not out rebound or outscore the Broncos players. Since the women had won, another night came and went in Vegas. Nights included activities of walking the strip and a competition to have the largest group at one table in any restaurant for that night. The spirit team definitely won the competition. Sunday was the women’s game against the Portland Pilots which almost was an upset, but the women were able to pull out a victory and advanced to the WCC Championship game on Monday. By this time we had all seen Vegas for a long time and were ready to move on with our spring break. Not that Vegas is a bad spot to spring break, but when it’s mixed with work, it’s not really spring break. Monday brought the Gonzaga Bulldogs for the Torero women, and they fought until the end. The Toreros had less than a 10 point gap for ¾ of the game and were ahead sometimes. Yet at the end they sadly fell to the Bulldogs and would not be playing in the NCAA tournament. Both teams gave it their all and next year looks promising for both teams to have another shot at the Tournament.

Today Is The Day...

2009-02-28T13:50:00.001-08:00

Today is the men’s basketball last season game. It should be an awesome game due to the fact it is at USD and it is against our biggest rival, Gonzaga. Due to the performance of the team throughout the semester, a victory does not look promising; but us students will overload the Jenny Craig Pavilion and cheer our hearts out for our Toreros. In other news, spring break is only a week away and everyone already has spring fever. It’s a gorgeous day at almost 80 degrees while back home on the east coast they are preparing their snow blowers from one more expected large gift from old man winter (AKA a lot of snow). So since spring break is coming up that means I have to start packing my bags for Las Vegas where I will be meeting up with my parents for the West Coast Conference tournament to see which basketball teams will be heading to The Big Dance. Hopefully like last year, both the men’s and women’s teams will get a bid into the NCAA tournament but that would mean they would both have to win the conference in Las Vegas. It is not out of the question because they did it last year, but I believe the fact that last year the tournament was held at our school and we had the home field advantage and a huge student presence allowed for an easier win. We will see what Vegas holds in store for our teams. This will be my first time in Vegas and I can’t wait to check it out, plus the fact it’s not a high school class trip where they check on you every 5 minutes, I will be able to check out the sights without someone down my back the whole time. If you have been to Vegas, send me an email and tell me some places I should check out! Thanks, Thomas

Exam Time

2009-02-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

It’s getting to that time at USD where everyone has settled into their classes and their first exams are all this week and next week. Everyone seems to get very stressed at this point during the semester because they don’t know how hard their professor’s exams will be. For me, I just finished my first accounting exam that I prepared a lot for and thought I was going to have no chance at even getting a C on the exam. But after taking the exam, I felt confident because I did not second guess myself on most of the questions and it was much easier than I expected. Not to mention I went flowboarding at the WaveHouse right before class so I was having a good day already.
Today was also a day in history for USD. The dome on top of the new student life pavilion was put in place today. The building is still far from completion but it is definitely making progress and well on its way to being completed for Fall ’09. I know my classmates and I are extremely excited for the new 24 hour 7 days a week dining services in the new building; not to mention the full market as well. What can I say, when you are college student you get few luxuries when it comes to food and from reviews this new building and dining services are going to be top notch.
Thanks for reading my blog! If you are a prospective student and have any questions about USD or have any suggestions for my blog, don’t hesitate to email me at amarantet-11@sandiego.edu.
Countdowns:
March 12 days
Spring Break 17 days

Beach or School?

2009-01-30T15:58:00.000-08:00

Well it’s official. The weekend is here and the Toreros have made it through the first week of spring semester. It seems the general consensus on campus was that no one was ready to be back, not to mention the sunny weather making everyone want to go to the beach. But instead I had to go to classes and start doing homework. This semester, I have mostly business classes due to my marketing major. But the good news is I am taking a half-credit course at the Wavehouse, where you ride an artificial wave that always has a perfect 10 foot barrel. This is what gets me through each week, and the fact that I don’t have classes on Friday makes the week even shorter.
So looking forward, I’m sure this semester is going to fly by just like last semester. It seems that each semester goes faster than the one before it. Before I know it I’ll be looking for a job and will be graduating. But for now I will stick to my job at the gym and as the mascot. The highlight of being the mascot is the fact that I will be traveling to Las Vegas with the basketball teams for the WCC tournament during my spring break, which is coming up much quicker than expected.
In closing, it looks like it is time to buckle-down, get my work done and have an awesome semester.

Check out the wavehouse: http://sd.wavehouse.com/

Getting back into the swing of things...

2009-01-25T14:44:00.000-08:00

So when you say goodbye to the beautiful, sunny San Diego weather of 70 degrees and end up in snowy, 19 degrees New Jersey for a whole month; what do you do to pass the time? Well for me it ends up being spent underneath cars in the auto shop I work at, volunteering for the first aid squad in my town, and playing video games when I should be finishing my RA application. So I keep busy at home because this break is very long but at the same time very needed. You will learn that school work never stops during the semester and if you slack off it is very easy to fall behind. This is why I keep busy at school with extra-curricular activities and at home with a job. So the more I keep busy during breaks the easier it will be to get back into the swing of things at school, which is coming up a lot quicker than I expected.
So I never got to post the last blog before I got to school and now here I am at school. It is the last day before classes start and everyone is running to the bookstore to maybe get books and mostly try and get a better deal online somewhere. But it is great seeing all my friends after a month away and find out what happened during their breaks. But now it’s time to get my mind set to having to study and writing papers.

Jump on the Bus to USD

2008-12-31T21:30:00.000-08:00

So it’s almost that time for acceptance letters to come out. I’m sure you are all anxious to find out about all the schools you got into and hopefully USD is one of them. The most important thing to remember is that wait listed ≠ (does not equal) rejected. I was wait listed at USD and was not planning on going to college unless I got into USD. I was planning on working for a year full-time until about May 20th, when I received a phone call from a USD admissions counselor saying I had made it off the wait list and been accepted to USD. There were no words to describe the excitement I felt; sure my parents were not as excited as I was because they wanted me to stay close to home and tried to hold me back. But there was no holding me back, I knew the right place for me to go was USD and no one else but me could make the decision of where I should go to college but myself. So if you know USD is the right place for you, do what I did and hop on the bus to USD. So you might wonder what made USD the right place for me, well first of all I wanted to get away. College is a once in a lifetime opportunity to live in a completely different part of the United States or even the world, and you need to take advantage of that opportunity. College is a great way to meet new people and network (which is how you will most likely get your first internship). So this is what USD had to offer for me: distance from home so I wasn’t tempted to go home every weekend, tons of new people I had never met before, and opportunities for internships in San Diego or anywhere in the country, not to mention the beautiful weather. It is hard going home for Christmas, leaving the warm sunny San Diego for the cold and snowy Northeast, but this is one problem in life I can deal with.

About Me

2008-12-30T17:15:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone my name is Thomas Amarante. I hail from Wayne, New Jersey (about 15 minutes outside New York City) and I am currently enrolled in the University of San Diego as a second semester sophomore. I have an older brother who graduated from Brown University (’08) and is applying to medical school; and a sister who is graduating from Boston College this year (’09) and is going to work for Citi bank. Why go so far away to college you might ask; well the answer is simple, 2,500 miles from home, you learn to mature quickly at college. I am meeting people all over the world here at USD because their admission tries to be diverse as possible. Back home in New Jersey, high school was a breeze so I had to find some other activities to keep me occupied. I went to work as an auto mechanic and since my great-grandfather owned a dealership that my father worked at, I have always been around cars and always trying to gain more knowledge about them. I also became an EMT which requires about 120 hours of classes and a final exam to be certified by the state of New Jersey. I volunteer for Wayne Township Memorial First Aid Squad in NJ. Not only are we an ambulance squad, we are a rescue squad, which means we carry tools for extrication. And last summer I got an internship with a sailboat manufacturer called LaserPerformance. You might wonder why they picked me for the internship; well I race the sailboats they manufacture, competitively in the summer and have met many different representatives of this company over time. The summer internship included traveling to all the events in the summer with charter boats the company rents out. It is my job to make sure they get transported safely and securely to each event. That’s me in short. If you have any questions or suggestions for me, please email me and let me know! Thanks, Thomas!!