Before you get too deep into this, this is NOT a geography lesson on Mexico. This will, however, give you a little background on where I live here at St. Thomas. Here we go!
Welcome to the South side of Campus!
I live in the building on the left. It's called Grace Hall (hence the title "Grace Girl.") It's a very, very old building (built in the early 1900's), but it's not falling apart because it was remodeled about 10 years ago. It's way over on the south side of the St. Thomas campus. This kinda sucks because practically everything else is on the north side of the campus. The building on the right is Cretin Hall...the only other dorm down here. It's the guys' dorm (yes they spilt us up, which really sucks, but at least they give us girls some company.) All of the other dorms are on north. People who don't live on south campus dread coming down here. Why? You're just about to find out.
The main difference between north and south campus life is that south campus is so quiet!! When I walk over to north, I see people out playing frisbee or football, or having a snowball fight, or just lying out on the grass. That doesn't happen a whole lot down on south campus. If we want something to do, we usually walk over to north. A lot of north people see south as some sort of weird, deserted dorm area for people with no social lives. So untrue! I have a damn good social life, thank you very much! And to be completely honest, I like it over here...sometimes, the quietness keeps me sane. Besides, Grace has the biggest dorms--two rooms for two roommates. Our room is nice and spacious (I'll get some photos of it up eventually). It sure beats living in a 12'x 12' square like the girls in Dowling. However, if I don't get an RA position in Grace next year, I would consider living in the Morrison Apartments. Oh, how I yearn for my own kitchen where I can cook decent food!
Speaking of food, one of the main reasons people from north come to south (despite having class down here) is to eat at the Binz Refectory. Everyone on north tells me they think the Binz is a whole lot better than the Caf (the dining hall on north). It's nothing incredibly special...the food's okay, but it's not gourmet. I guess I haven't eaten in the Caf enough to know the real difference! I think the only reason people from north come down here to eat is so they can have ice cream (and toppings!) from the sundae bar. I swear that's the only reason. I haven't eaten ice cream in almost 40 days because I gave it up for lent. Ahh! It's so hard to watch people eat ice cream and not want it for myself! Oh well, I just gotta wait until Easter is over! Oh, another thing about the Binz: when people get married at St. Thomas (or have anniversaries or banquets or whatever), they usually have the receptions in the Binz. Why they do this, I have no idea...I'd rather have my wedding reception at a fancy restaurant or hotel.
Another thing you should know about Cretin and Grace is that there are ghosts living in the halls...I am not kidding! I've heard stories about them from some of the former residents. I don't exactly remember the orgin of these ghosts (when I find out, I'll write it down), but one story was from a few years ago: a girl was in her room making toast or something, and the bread flew out of the toaster and hit her in the face! Another story: at Halloween a few years ago, a girl had some leftover candy out on her bed. She didn't have a roommate and both the outside and bathroom doors were locked. However, when she returned from class, the candy was perfectly lined up on her bed! (oooooh!) I've had my own run-in with the ghost; one day, I walked across the hall to talk with a couple of girls, and I shut the door behind me. I was standing in the other girls' doorway when I looked over at my door and saw it open and shut. I went to see if my roommate walked in...and no one was in the room! I swear it was the ghost that came into our room. Sounds pretty freaky, huh?
So what do we do down here? Our favorite thing to do is pile into Tyler's Honda and Katie's Ford and drive down Grand Ave. to Cafe Latte-the BEST cafeteria-style restaurant ever! They have the best deserts ever (their cheesecake is awesome!), a full coffee bar, and a variety of sandwiches, soups, spreads, and salads. A trip here totally makes my day! My favorites: chicken salsa chili with everything on it, chocolate mocha cheesecake, turkey and avacado sandwich on focaccia bread, and hot apple cider with whipped cream and a cinnamon stick! We also have our own cafe in the Cretin basement--it's called the Ultraviolet Cafe, aka the UV or the Christmas Light Basement (can you guess why?) A bunch of us will hang out there to watch movies and hang out and play War (watch out for John, he gets way into the game!) and stuff like that. That's just a sampling; I'm way too involved down here!
So now without further adieu, I proudly present:
