A Day in the Life, University of Colorado at Boulder

First Published 4-14-2005

CU has received a lot of negative press and hype over the past couple of years. We've got the ignorant/sexist CU football coach, the extreme/lying Native American professor who slandered victims of 9-11, the president who just quit her job, the multiple deaths from alcohol consumption, and the multiple rapes on campus along with the racism that has recently surfaced. We have had our share of problems...

This quick post is meant to offer a better definition of CU as a place of learning and self exploration. This post outlines my day on 4-14-05. This day was not extrordinary in comparison to any other day, I just had my camera along.

Well, I woke up a bit late this morning because I was busy from 8pm-12:30am last night working on a group project and didn't get to sleep until 2am after dropping my friend off at his house. It has been great working with a team of upper class business students on a relevant interesting project. We are comparing the Nintendo DS to the Sony PSP and trying to create an integrated marketing communications plan for Nintendo. I slept right through my sociology recitation (but it's okay because I am taking that class pass/fail). It's nice to have a bit of flexibility in my schedule.

Once I got up and showered, shaved, ate some breakfast/lunch and finally got myself going it was time to book it over to my "first" class of the day. I walk to class as usual and the weather was a perfect example of why Colorado is one of the most beautiful places in the world to live. Just two days ago there was a foot of snow on the ground from what people on the news were calling a "blizzard!" You wouldn't know it had ever snowed if you came today though, I've got my shorts on and it's perfect outside, not a cloud in the sky and it's springtime so there are beautiful flowers everywhere, even on the trees. This is my third year at CU and I have befriended a lot of people so I say hi to nearly a dozen people on the short walk to class.

This class isn't my favorite but today is extra cool because there is a guest speaker. Clay Timon is the guy's name and after just a short while of listening to his story it becomes clear that he is extremely smart and influential (what else would you expect from a CU alum). Clay has worked at the top of many companies including FedEx, LG, bp, and even P&G. He is now retired from his position as the CEO of Landor, a top marketing company worldwide. I sprinted to meet up with him after class to introduce myself and thank him for the presentation (I wrote an outline of some of the topics he covered during the lecture under the "technical freedom" section of manufacturedfreedom.com if you want to see what it was like).

Well, class was over so I had some free time and I began my walk back to the dorms when I was abruptly waved over by a friend. There wass a group of students with a table set up doing a business campaign project. They were promoting new golf tees that are completely biodegradable, not to mention the tees last longer than a wooden tee in terms of durability! If you want to learn more about these tees check out: http://www.ecogolf.com/. I am floored to learn about such a cool product and the group offers me some free pizza and a chance to win a prize by trying out a sample tee and hitting plastic golf balls across the field. I also found out they have the same professor as I do for one of my marketing classes, Steven Engel. Steven is a really great professor, he challenges students but also has a great sense of humor and is easy to relate to. As I hit a few balls I was reminded of how lucky I am to be attending a world class university.

The University of Colorado is simply beautiful. We have huge green fields all over (unless it's snowing). Just the other day I went to a women's lacrosse game at another field on the other side of campus and on my way passed four open fields where students were studying or tanning or playing sports. Our girls are ranked third in the state for lacrosse and the game was enthralling to watch. Everything fits at CU, even the architecture is stunning. All of our buildings were themed to match going forward when the school was founded in 1876, the same year Colorado became the Centennial State. Red rock and Spanish style red roofing were used on nearly every building and it really sets the campus apart. Even hiking up the world famous flatirons, which are walking distance from the dorms or The Hill, one can pick out the CU campus from the rest of Boulder because of the beautiful red architecture. CU reminds me of Stanford in the way it looks.

Back to my story... I finished the little golf adventure and continued towards the dorms. On my way back I ran into my friend from last semester. It seems like I have known this guy for a long time but we really just met. He is working on a CD and he wants to become a professional singer. He has managed to get help from a local Boulderite who used to be big in the music industry, they met while golfing about a year ago, lol more golfing. My friend offered to give me his latest CD and explained that he is on his way to being signed. I am a bit jealous but the truth is I can't help but be happy for my friend. It's amazing to be surrounded by so many profound individuals. Not only are the professors at CU interesting but my classmates each have a story to tell and often times the stories are right out of a movie script! I have one friend who's family is a part of Quiksilver (not to mention the CEO and founder of Quiksilver USA visited CU earlier this year and his daughter "Roxy" is considering attending CU next year), another friend of mine is from Argentina and last year at the beginning of summer he and another friend of mine visited his country and flew around in his parents helicopter, another friend of mine is a world renown yo-yo competitor from China and yet another friend is heading to Japan to study and teach English this summer! Over spring break I had two friends who went to South America and worked with an undergrad doctors program to administer aid to people in need. They told some crazy stories when they got back about people duying and poverty as well as the extreme cultural differences. These unique students just show up to class every day at CU, each one with their own exciting background story and accomplishments.

I finally left my friend, "the rock star," and continued to my dorm... After a short while I realized that I couldn't stay cooped up in my room with such nice weather, I needed to get out again and enjoy it! I picked up my long board skateboard and cruised around campus for a while. I spoted some ducks at the pond near my dorm and even a few turtles. There are lots of birds and a few bees at the flowers doing their thing. It's crazy to see people out tanning on the grass in bikinis and shorts, it's like a beach here some days when the sun is shining like this. I get back to my room and study before my friend comes over to continue work on our group project.

We ended up working for nearly an hour and got a lot done. My friend and I are like the managers for this project and we divided up the tasks and spent quite a while deciding which team members would be the most effective for each piece of the marketing plan. Everyone in our group is doing a great job and even though we are coming down to the wire I know we will do well. My GPA is worth working for but I have definitely kept myself well rounded here at CU between being a sponsored skateboarder, taking leading roles on a student housing safety committee and joining a few clubs. I am also a web master (yeah, I like websites) and I still find time to play video games (I am on Sony's official gaming committee), hang out with friends and keep a 3.44 cumulative GPA.

Our project session finally finished (for the day) and my friend left. Soon after the group project ended I got a call from a few other friends inviting me to play volleyball tomorrow night! I gave them the OK and then got some dinner. I love the dining halls at CU because it's a great place to make friends and just relax after working all day. The food isn't the greatest but I know these are the last bits of my life where me and tons of people my age will all get to hang out and be social. At dinner some of my friends were discussing biology while others chatted about engineering. CU has top MCDB, Business, Engineering and Law schools. Top as in, some of the best in the world... We have had tons of astronauts, geniuses and even CEO's graduate right here, not to mention Robert Redford who spent a few years here before dropping out.

Okay, dinner ended and I headed back to do some blogging. After a few more greetings from friends and a chat outside with a girl who is going to Africa for school related study next semester I logged on to my computer and wrote up this blog. CU has it's ups and downs just like any community. The school has more people in it than the town I grew up in! I think there is good and bad everywhere you go and CU has it's share but there is certainly more good here than bad and I wanted to share a positive day at the University of Colorado in Boulder. This school is an adventure school with the mountains, the bike trails, the skiing, Denver with it's clubs and concerts, the high quality academic programs ranging from theatre to law, and the people who come from all over the world to spend a few years having the time of their lives. 4/14/05