I decided to post twice today since I won't be in the office next week. This week is a collection of sorts. On Tuesday, I had lunch at "The Rat" with Khiem, the new President of the Vietnamese Student Organization (of which I am proud to say I am the club advisor). You can see him here posing with a Rat menu. I love going to "The Rat" for lunch on campus. I would highly recommend going there if you're going to visit campus. Khiem is a junior majoring in advertising and graphic design. He's going to make a great president. I can tell!

So as I was leaving the Rat, I saw one of my best friends, Cristina, walk by. Cristina (in the pink top) is an advisor in the International Student and Scholar Services office. She helps enrolled international students with...well...everything they need while at UM. She's also the advisor for the Council of International Students and Organizations (affectionately known on campus as COISO). COISO members (and COISO alumni like me) affectionately call her "Mama C" because she cares so much for us like we're her own.

On Wednesday the 29th, student tickets were made available for "Destino 2008" - the Democratic Candidates Presidential Forum being hosted by the University of Miami. Our UM students will be able to witness the historic live broadcast of the first presidential forum to focus on the issues of the Hispanic community. Candidates Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson will all be attending. The line for these tickets stretched the length of the University Center, but I'm sure it was worth everyone's wait!

So I know it's cheesy, but I took pictures of people in line. Here you can see that these students were happy to have their ticekts and be out of the line. People on campus are really looking forward to this forum. And UM is honored to be hosting this!

Check out more photos from this week on my photobucket account:

http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee19/umiami_shutterbug/Week%20of%20August%2027%20-%20etc%20etc%20etc/

I'll be back soon and ready with my camera...

Dr. Gaines Biology 150 class

Last Thursday, I got to visit Dr. Michael Gaines' Biology 150 class. The class meets in the Cox Science Center -- so you'll probably see these classes as a student. Sitting in on the class was interesting for me because as an undergrad, I avoided science courses if at all possible. I'm the first to admit that my brain just isn't wired for science.

But as I sat there, I realized I missed out. No, really. I was kind of sad I'd never taken one of Dr. Gaines' classes. People always told me he was a great professor, but I guess you never believe it until you see it. He made sure the class stayed lively, and incorporated class/group activities. I almost started offering answers to his questions to the class.

I'm working on editing a video I took of his lecture too so you can really see what goes on in his class, but for now, I hope you enjoy the photos.

Photobucket Album