So I was going to blog about Veg Fest 2013, the annual vegan event hosted by CSU student org ROAR (you can read more about it here), which was last Friday afternoon, but it wasn’t too exciting this year. Last year, the free vegan food was extensive and even restaurants came and sampled food, but this year the samples were kind of few and far between—I had such high expectations from last year that it simply couldn’t measure up. So I’m not going to blog about that! Instead, I’m going to blog about something awesome that happened on Saturday…it involves free gelato (it sounds like my whole world revolves around free food, doesn’t it? I promise, that’s not all I do! Ahem..)

Old Town Fun

On Saturday, the little gelato shop Gelazzi had its grand reopening, after closing sometime last year. To celebrate, they were offering free gelato (in a waffle cone—legit!) to everyone. All day long. Since we are the biggest ice cream lovers on the planet (no big deal), my roommates and I biked to Old Town in the lovely 70 degree weather to get our paws on some yummy gelato.

I Scream for Ice Cream Gelato

The three of us stood in a short line and picked our flavors: I got mint chocolate chip, and my roommates got dark chocolate and cookie dough. The mint was delicious (duh, how could it not be?). Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of it for you—I gobbled it all up before I thought about taking a picture of my cone! Sorry. Sitting outside in the sun eating my gelato-cone made it feel like summer, and that made me really not want to be in school anymore. I’m getting pretty stir crazy. Good thing Finals are in two weeks. Even though I’m not ready for them because I have a million and one things to do before I can even start studying for them. Oh well. Life of a college student.

Gelazzi

Has all sorts of flavors for every set of tastebuds. They even have Fat Tire, Guiness, and Kahlua ice creams (for 21+ of course). Some of their flavors included coconut, strawberry, milk chocolate, cake batter, and limoncello, to name a few. It was a great place—I can imagine going again if I’m ever in Old Town and have a hankering for something cold and sweet! I would highly recommend Gelazzi. It’s good stuff!

Question of the Day:

What’s your favorite ice cream/fro-yo/gelato flavor?

My favorites are coffee and mint chocolate chip (has to be green colored, though. The white stuff is garbage). I’ll pretty much eat any ice cream flavor though—I love it so much! What are your favorites? Tweet me your answers @MyCSU_Kelly with #icecream.

I am seriously one of those seniors who has been talking about how much he is going to miss CSU once he graduates. In years past, I always looked at those kinds of people as if they were just milking their status to get some attention. Sure enough, now that I’m in the same position I am now doing the same thing.

It’s because I discovered that part of senioritis is this weird symptom where you don’t want to leave your university. Amongst the passion for future ventures and excitement for a professional lifestyle, is a bit of sorrow knowing that this will soon be over.

In light of my developing feelings, I really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to fully express to my audience exactly why it is that I chose to attend and stay at Colorado State University.

To Keep It Short

I graduated valedictorian in my class. With a solid GPA and a great deal of self-efficacy and confidence in my intellectual abilities, I knew that college would be a manageable experience for me. However, I had absolutely no desire to continue school, due in large part to teenager naïveté and burn out from being such an over-achiever (which I still am, old habits die hard).

But I think what really did it for me were the two visits that I made to CSU and Fort Collins during my senior year. I hadn’t even heard of CSU until we had planned to visit, and I must say that it was a pleasant surprise. On both occasions the weather was cool, but the campus was green and beautiful as it is known to be. The student ambassador who gave us a tour of the campus was so chill and friendly; interesting how I end up working with those individuals at my Admissions job.

In addition, I had gotten to eat the dorm food, which was actually really good to me. This is significant because food is valuable to me, so getting to sample the food I’d be eating for my first year in college was very helpful. Also, the people were all friendly for the most part; we enjoyed spending an afternoon in Old Town, getting the feel of the Fort Collins culture. And I think what put the cherry on top of the visits was the trip to Horestooth. There’s just something about knowing that there are awesome areas for you to explore that makes CSU sound and feel even better.

Right Choice

When it comes to picking colleges, you just gotta get informed, get a peek, and make a choice. Also, the fact that I pretty much had my first year paid for at CSU didn’t hurt my decision either. There are a number of factors that come into play, and it can be overwhelming trying to put everything in its proper place.

That’s why I’m glad it was all so easy with CSU. A refreshing environment to inhabit, a campus full of community and positivity, and an amazing four year experience that I will never forget. Seems like a no-brainer to me. ;D

Witticism O’ the Day: It is not a secret if it is known by three people (Irish proverb).

Last Friday, my roommate from freshman year called me and asked if I wanted to go with her to “First Friday,” which is an event held in Old Town the first Friday of every month—all of the art galleries have an open house so you can walk through them, appreciate great art, and eat lots of yummy free finger foods. I was hesitant because it was freezing out, but she convinced me that cold weather “is how great memories are made.” And I’m so glad we went!

The Art

Walking through the many art galleries in Old Town was really interesting—it was hard to get through crowds at times, but it was worth it to see some unique paintings, drawings, sculptures, and even instruments that the artists had dedicated so much time to creating; and being one of the least artistically-talented people in the world, I loved gaining so much perspective and seeing the creativity involved. The three of us that went also enjoyed the occasional cookie or cheese cube, too, if food motivates you (I know why people actually go to Costco—free samples!) There was also a contemporary dance performance from Impact Dance Company (a local company) which, if you remember my love for dance, was very impressive and enjoyable. And when the artsy part of First Friday ended, we headed over to a coffee shop/bookstore for a little lesson in poetry. 

The Bean Cycle

Is a great little coffee shop in Old Town that has a bookstore in the back of it, and a little loft where you can get lost in a book (or your homework) as you sip your hot chai. They also happen to have a poetry slam every first Friday of the month, and the winner gets a jar of money (graciously donated by the audience during the slam)! Who wouldn’t share their poetry for a jar of money? Ok, I wouldn’t. Poetry is so personal, and it was amazing that there were so many talented poets willing to prepare three poems to share; it wasn’t just the William Shakespeare’s of the world, either—lots of the contestants chose to rap without instrumentals, which was pretty impressive.

So, the moral of this story is: when you’re bored, there’s probably something amazing going on in Fort Collins that will offer you artistic culture and a new perspective, and who knows—you may even become a regular First Friday attendee. I know I’ll be going again when April swings around. Happy Spring Break, Rammies! 

Witticism O’ the Day: When I start feeling blue…I start breathing again.

So I know I’ve been writing all about the interesting people you can watch do crazy things on campus at the Plaza, and I know you love it just as much as I do, so I figured I would give you another favorite people-watching spot of mine. When I’m bored on the weekend and don’t feel like doing any more homework, I head over to the center of Fort Collins: Old Town.

All about Old Town

Old Town is the epitome of cool, and pulls a Jekyll & Hyde trick of sorts—during the day it’s a great place to walk around and shop the extensive boutiques or catch a bite to eat. There is an endless list of events that happen on a daily basis and that is geared to be family-friendly (but is still really fun for college students). There’s always something going on. But by night, Old Town transforms to accommodate the Creatures of the Night (aka, college students 21+) that populate Fort Collins. The shops close down and the families with children go home and the town lights up with the young and fabulous party people. Bars open their doors and nightclubs leave the bass down low for people passing by to hear. And Old Town is almost busier than during the day!

The last time I found myself in Old Town was actually last weekend—my roommates and I were sick of doing homework on a Saturday afternoon and we decided to do something about it (Honors students like to wreak havoc on our homework plans)! So we made the trek to Old Town for some good, old-fashioned people watching. And we found this really talented guy, seen in the video, on the corner of Mountain and College. I found his music both inspiring and beautiful, so I wanted to share it with all of you. Head to Old Town the next time you get bored, you never know what awesome stuff will be going on!

Be safe this Halloween weekend, and tune in for my next blog post on Wednesday!

As May 14 creeps closer, my time at CSU is quickly coming to an end. What better way to celebrate graduation than to reminisce about all the good times I had? I’ll start at the beginning with my freshman year - I am also using this as an opportunity to test how good my memory is!

The dorms

I moved into room G211 in Corbett Hall on one of the hottest days of the summer. There is nothing better than moving furniture up stairs into a building without air conditioning, but luckily the dorm experience only got better from that point. 

I got sick of the dorm food by the end of the year, and there were times where I thought my roommate was going to drive me clinically insane, but I think everyone experiences those dorm moments. Overall, it was an experience that I’ll never forget, and I now find myself missing dorm food four years later.

My friends

I think I had one of the best floors possible. I had relaxed RAs and some made some long-time friends on my floor. Off the top of my head, I can name at least a dozen people from my floor that I still see regularly, and you can rest assured that we still exchange old dorm stories from time to time.

My best memories from that year aren’t from big spectacular events, but rather the small day-to-day interaction with my newfound friends. Walking to Consuelo’s for breakfast burritos, playing volleyball in the courtyard, biking to Old Town and trekking to Durrell Express for a late-night meal were among my favorite things to do.

Other favorite memories include:

• Dorm move-in day and playing the “name game” with everyone on my floor (I can still name 38 out of 40-some people!)
• My first autumn on campus and staring all the picturesque trees in The Oval
• My first time studying all night for a 7 a.m. final. – Then taking a nap and pulling another all-nighter. Don’t worry; I quickly re-evaluated my study habits after that
• My first time tailgating before a football game at Hughes Stadium
• My first winter break and moving back into the parents’ house. The home-cooked food makes up for the loss of freedom.
• Free comedy shows in the LSC
• Counting the tally marks at the end of the year that represented the number of time my suitemates locked me out of the bathroom.
• Playing Frisbee by the lagoon
• Switching my major from business to journalism, which is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

The wrap-up

The next two weeks will include more of my favorite memories from CSU, so stay tuned.