Declan's Blog

Bye Bye Bloggy

dmalley@scu.edu (Declan Malley) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:30:00 PST

As my freshman year at SCU winds to a close, week ten has all the familiar attributes of dead week (the week before finals). Fewer people are seen sunbathing, library attendance seems to be at an all time high, and, of course, quiet hours are approaching rapidly. However, one of the most intriguing oddities that has taken place recently is the weather. Today, sitting in my room, I look out the window only to see rain, making me feel as though I’m already back in Seattle. This year, each dead week has been fraught with poor weather. While this definitely doesn’t help lift my spirits while studying, it definitely does help with the distraction that sunshine does pose. I only hope that I will encounter another sunny day before I leave California.

In exactly one week from today I will be en route to the airport for a flight home to Seattle. This poses an odd feeling similar to that which I felt while moving down here last fall. Before then, Seattle had always been my home and I had little doubt it always would be. However, now that I have gone to school for a year at Santa Clara, I am beginning to consider this my home. I am here for longer than I am home and after a few summers, I will simply not be returning home. The grim feeling is mixed with the feeling of anticipation. I anticipate the next chapter of my life to start and for that of my adolescence based back in Seattle to close. A person once told me that once you move away to college that your old house is never your home again. I didn’t believe them until now. I am excited to go home and see my family, friends, and my city as well, though I don’t truly feel like I’m going home. Right now I feel as though I have no home…I am being pulled away from Santa Clara for the summer, and returning to Seattle, where I have only spent a couple weeks since last summer. I only wonder how long it will be before I get back this feeling of being at home, either in Seattle or Santa Clara.

The Big Three

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Wed, 18 May 2011 11:54:00 PST

The progression of my freshman year can be analyzed academically, socially, and even physically. Academically, I have serious improved my skills (mainly in calculus) by taking challenging and rewarding courses. I feel much more prepared to take on the business world with the education I have received thus far. This summer, I will participate in an internship where I manage my own painting business. Before this year, I would never have thought that I would be able to run my own business. While I don’t feel completely ready to tackle this task, I know I am much more prepared than I was before I came to Santa Clara.

Socially, I have been thrown into the deep end of the social swimming pool. Dorm life is something that I recommend every college student should participate in. It may become slightly exhausting and simply annoying at times, but it was an experience that I wouldn’t have traded for another living situation. Seeing a peer every time that you open your door is something that takes getting used to, but it becomes refreshing after awhile. I have learned to make friends very easily. I have also learned how to put up with people I don’t like, which isn’t as fun but equally important for a career in business.

Physically I have gained 10+ pounds, which is good for me because I was pretty skinny kid in high school. Santa Clara is one of the most ‘fit’ universities in America, and it rubs off on almost everyone who goes there. I am glad that that I attend a university that promotes, although indirectly, good physical fitness.

Other than these three aspects, I feel although I have grown in a more important way. I feel like I have grown as a person. I feel although I have really began to leave my childhood behind and am beginning to become a man. I have Santa Clara to thank for that.

The Campus Comparison

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Wed, 11 May 2011 09:07:00 PST

This past weekend I had the privilege of visiting the historic Greek Theatre on the campus of Cal Berkley. This campus is simply breath taking. There is a clock tower that stands over 200ft high made of white marble. From the base of the tower, you are able to see the golden gate bridge which is many miles away. This view is sublimely awesome. However, the campus of Berkley is incredibly different from that of Santa Clara. It is many times bigger in both the size of the campus and the size of the buildings. I felt much smaller and much less significant as I walked through this beautiful campus.

Cal Berkley is an amazing school with a very historical and beautiful campus. However, I do not feel although I would belong there. Berkley has more evergreen trees and is probably 10 degrees colder on average than Santa Clara. I come from Seattle and I felt more like I was in Seattle than California while on the campus of Berkley. It is simply amazing that I can drive 40 minutes north and feel although I am in a completely different region. While I enjoyed visiting Berkley I could not see myself be a student at that University. The palm trees and balmy air are things that Santa Clara has to offer and schools in the bay area simply cannot compete with. This ties back to Santa Clara’s ideal geography: 30 minutes from Santa Cruz, 40 minutes to the bay area and 5 hours to LA. And, of course, only 14 hours to sweet sweet Seattle.

Guest Lecture

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:47:00 PST

Living in California is one of the most amazing experiences that I have had the pleasure of doing thus far in my life. I love Seattle, but there is no way that I could wake up almost every morning to see the sun shining through my window back home. The weather is definitely a pro of living in this area, but there is something that is even more important for a student to consider when deciding where to attend university. The area of Silicon Valley is something that can simply not be competed with. This area is undoubtedly the most up-and-coming area in the business world. With companies such as Google and Cisco based in this area, a college graduate cannot go wrong in their job hunt.

One example of how this is helpful for a freshman can be shown in an anecdote regarding my OMIS (Organization Management and Information Systems) 34 class. This class is entitled ‘Introduction to Business Computing’ and basically teaches students what technology they need to know to be an active member of the business community. Silicon Valley is mostly technological based and therefore this class is very important. Recently, our class had the pleasure of hearing a guest lecturer discuss his experience in the world of domain names. I learned that the domain name business is a very lucrative business. In fact, apple recently purchased the domain name www.iCloud.com for over 4 million dollars. If I had not chosen Santa Clara, I am confident that I would still be completely ignorant about this industry.

One week from today, I will be listening to the CIO (Chief Information Officer) of NetApp guest lecture in my OMIS class. I have never heard of NetApp before, but I have recently discovered that this company was voted by Forbes the number one most desirable company to work for. I am going to listen to one of the most influential people in most desirable company in the world talk to my class for over an hour. This experience is something that I am confident can not be reciprocated by almost any other university in the United States. I am beginning to realize how Santa Clara’s business program, already ranked in the top 40, is the perfect program for me.

The Plague

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:30:00 PST

Communal living has its ups and its downs. Its pros consist of good interpersonal relationships, never having a dull moment, and borrowing sugar from your neighbors whenever you please. However, a definite con to this situation is illness. For about two weeks now a plague of biblical proportions has swept through Santa Clara with the speed of a cheetah and the potency of a cobra. Okay, maybe this is an exaggeration, but a lot of people did get sick. A seemingly isolated incident began at one of my friend’s houses off campus. In this house live eight young men ranging in age from a freshman to a few juniors sprinkled with sophomores. In my isolated world, the infection began here. Before a week went through, five of the eight housemates had contracted the plague (which I will be calling from henceforth the SCVirus). Soon the SCVirus had spread to one of the housemate’s girlfriends, from her to a few girls in her sorority, and from there it wasn’t long until it hit the dorms.

The SCVirus was a mere flu that spread like wildfire. It you had shared anything from a cup of water to a hug with a victim, odds are you contracted the illness. I contracted it early in the game and had to watch the effects spread out to people who had made contact with me. I felt a certain amount of guilt because I was responsible for my friend’s illnesses, but I eventually wrote it off as a byproduct of communal living. My intention of writing about this illness was not to scare off any hypochondriacs, but to show that even with the drawbacks of dorm life, living in Swig is very worth it.

Precious Commodities

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:36:00 PST

In my earlier blogs I have discussed what are the most precious commodities that a student can have on a college campus. I said that a long-board, a few tank tops, and sunglasses are all paramount to a good college experience in California. While all these are good commodities for a college student, there is one more item that has recently come to my attention: headphones. A college dorm is a living situation that can be summed up in one word: hectic. There is always something going on, and there is almost always someone up and about 24 hours a day. People knock on your door from 7 am to about 2 am on an average night. What this comes down to is that dorms are loud, very loud. While this is a good thing about 80% of the time, there is time when you just want to block out the world and simply listen to the new Atmosphere album. This is where the headphones come in. I recently purchased a nice pair of headphones that block out all acoustic sound around me leaving my in a world that is occupied simply by my thoughts and whatever I choose to play on my iTunes. These peaceful moments are few and far between for most people living in dorms, but for me have become much more frequent thanks to my headphones. So, in summation, the most useful tool for a student living in the dorms who seeks peace, invest in a nice set of headphones and a nice album of classical music.

Transitioning

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:01:00 PST

I had a friend who is currently a senior in high school come down to visit Santa Clara this past weekend and it was my job to give him a tour and show him what SCU is like. I of course showed him the campus and showed him where he would be sleeping (on the floor in my dorm room). He loved the campus from the palm trees strategically scattered around campus to the state of the art classrooms that we found in Lucas Hall. He was surprised when I took him to Benson (the cafeteria) and it was actually good food. He fell for the commonly accepted fallacy that food served on college campuses is universally disgusting. I was glad to show my friend a good time and was very proud of my university. The other school that he was considering was a very prestigious and competitive university, and after I toured him I feel although I gave Santa Clara the edge over this other university. However, the main thing that I remember about his visit came in a conversation.

I was showing him around the surrounding area and showed him which house I would be living in the following year. It was around midnight and he asked me, “When do we have to go back?” I looked at him perplexed and asked him what he was talking about. He went on to ask me if there was a curfew or if we had to be back in the rooms at a certain time. I laughed and said to him “Dude, this is college. You can do whatever you want.” We had a good laugh and went on with our tour of Santa Clara.

This conversation was one of the first times I realized that I could actually do whatever I want. My education in and out of school thus far had taught me what my priorities should be: academics, family, physical fitness etc. However, now I had no one to answer to. If my grades started to slip sure my father would get mad, but this time it was only me who could decide what my grades were. If I had no friends, no one would look out for me. I realized that I was on my own. This was an exciting and much delayed discovery for me. College is easing me into the real world, slowly but surely. And touring my friend helped me discover that Santa Clara is the best place to help me with this transition.

Apples

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:11:00 PST

Something that is always an exciting experience at school is getting mail from home. It seems sort of like a small victory, but having something sent to you has a feeling unlike any other. Although you are away from home, receiving mail offers a tangible example of how home still cares about you. While this may seem petty, I insist that this feeling is unique and comforting. My grandmother is my relative who sends the most mail to me, sending me one to two letters a week. While I almost never have time to sit down and pen a response, I do appreciate a sort of newsletter unique to me send biweekly giving me all the new news in Seattle.

Because I know that my grandmother will send me letters so often, I end up checking my mail multiple times a week. While it is a good feeling opening my PO Box and seeing a piece of mail waiting for you, this sensation is dwarfed by that of receiving a package. The mystery of what is contained in each standard sized box excites to the point of giddy anticipation. When I arrive in my room after returning with a package, I immediately proceed to open it like a kid on Christmas morning. As weird as this sounds, the best package I received has not contained candy or a shirt, but it contained apples. Coming from Washington, I am used to eating amazing apples daily. California’s apples are good, but they cannot stand up in comparison to a good Washington apple. My grandmother sent me about a dozen apples, which I hoard almost too greedily. They are my new most precious commodity and unfortunately wont last me very long.

Laundry

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:50:00 PST

Going away to college is entering a world where you are more independent than ever before while simultaneously having very little control over your day-to-day actions. While you can decide what you eat and when, you have your food prepared for you on a set menu. While your room can be as messy as you wish, the hallways and bathrooms are cleaned daily by a diligent crew of quiet but cheerful workers. However, there is one thing that is pretty universal for students to do themselves: Laundry. For many of the friends that I made, laundry was something that was always taken care of for them by their mothers or fathers. This led to a pile of dirty clothes to accumulate in the corners of their rooms until they simply could no longer ignore it. After helping some of my friends learn why they should sort their laundry (and watching others learn the hard way), most of my dorm was doing laundry weekly. This big step for the majority led to a major scheduling issue.

A dorm of 400 people has about 1200 loads of laundry to do a week. This means the 5000 shirts, 7500 socks, and 3000* pairs of jeans that get washed each week have an allotted time in the laundry room. To find a time when no one was using that washing machine, one had to get creative. There are the night owls who start their laundry at 3 am and don’t get to bed until 5. Next we have the Friday-nighters who take their loads down when everyone else is socializing. These times usually yield the smallest crowds and allow laundry to be done efficiently, but they also have a downside. Who wants to wait until 3 am and get no sleep just to have clean clothes? I also refuse to sacrifice my social life in the name of a cleaner shirt. I have yet to come up with a foolproof solution to this problem, but I have found a few decent ones. A midday load on any day but Sunday has a low chance of traffic, as does an early morning trip to the laundry room (but who wants to wake up before noon anyways?). Laundry is just another one of the grim necessities that a student must take in stride while having the best four years of their life.

*numbers have been approximated

Running on Empty

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 09:20:00 PST

When someone thinks of college academics, they think of pulling all nighters. You know, 4 empty cans of red bull littering the floor, about 20 open books scattered across every visible surface area of the room, and a student who has been awake for 48 hours. I came to Santa Clara and after the majority of the first quarter passed with no all nighters and very little empty red bulls in my recycling to prove my academic prowess, I came to the conclusion that college was not simple about late nights and intellectual marathons. I thought that as long as I kept my affairs in order and I did not procrastinate, academics would be simple enough. For nine and a half weeks this ‘rigorous’ academic schedule worked to semi-perfection. Then came finals week.

This is where the archetypical visions of the academically strained college student come to their ultimate fruition. My first college ‘all nighter’ came finals week of fall quarter, and with it came many an empty can of energy drink. The final for which I was most anxious for was my Math 31 (or business calculus) exam. Having only advanced as far as pre-calculus in my tenure as a high school student, this class was especially difficult. I stayed up until 7 am for an exam that would take place at 9:10 am, pouring over every equation that would possibly make an appearance on the exam. After countless hours of mind-melting repetition, I woke from what can only be described as a two-hour nap and took my exam. While I felt prepared, my sleep deprivation led me to the conclusion that to become a stereotypical college student, one must get their hands dirty. While I felt that the single night that I spent studying until my brains felt similar to scrambled eggs was hellish, it was worth every second spent at the pool or playing Frisbee on the quad. Just remember, the ends justify the means: and if the end is graduating from than the 35^th ranked business school in the nation, then I would take one of these nights each week.

Stocking Up

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:15:00 PST

While I’m sure on occasion someone will stumble upon my blog as a coincidence, this entry is for my more loyal readers. It is part two of my last blog, ‘Parent Weekend’.

So as all of my readers know, last weekend was Parent Weekend here at SCU. I listed off many of the benefits from having your parents come to visit like the off campus meals that they pay for or the considerably larger bed in the hotel they stay at. However, the most valuable part of parents weekend (other than simply seeing your parents), is the Costco run. While Benson (the dining hall) is only a few hundred feet from your dorm room, it can still seem like a perilous journey at times. In times like this it is nice to open a drawer at see a bag of beef jerky staring you in the face. While the campus grocery store caters to most all of your shopping needs, the bulk offered at Costco is simply unbeatable. The competition gets blown out of the water when you see deodorant coming in packs of 5 sticks or a barrel of mayonnaise that could comfortably house a grown man.

Now I am not saying that I go to Costco to purchase these luxuries, however, while my father boarded his plane back to Seattle a week ago, his memory lives on in the 24 pack of sunny delight that decorates our pantry. So while Patrick Malley is gone, he has given me enough supplies so I will be able to make it through the remainder of the winter quarter, and well in to the spring.

Parent Weekend

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:19:00 PST

Just at the time when students are beginning to feel completely independent, just at the time when they begin to feel completely sovereign, parents weekend arrives. A campus that is usually filled with young adults rarely pushing twenty-two, is suddenly full of forty and fifty year olds with nametags. These visitors have a variety of facial expressions from confusion, happiness, exasperation, to even nostalgia at returning to the old alma mater. Amidst this sea of smiling faces, the students weave like salmon swimming upstream in an attempt to find their parents who always seem to be attempting to evade your searches. However, after much looking, the reunion takes place.

When my father came down, we had many activities planned for the weekend. First I’ll take him to the welcome speech by the president, then the welcome dinner, then this then that. However, after dinner we both decide that instead of going a million miles a minute, we’ll slow it down and relax. So after the dinner we slipped out and saw a movie, got a burger at In –N- Out and called it a night. This brought me back to how I used to spend some relaxed nights with my dad back in high school. I slept in a double bed with HBO on the TV. It was a good substitute.

Parents weekend was something that I really needed. In between Christmas break and summer vacation, it was a necessity to see my dad. They say that once you leave to go to college, your old home will never truly be your home again. While I find it hard, I agree with this saying. However, what I find harder to admit is the fact that I will never truly live with my Father again. This weekend gave me a nice fix that I needed to get me through the spring quarter.

Decorating the Room

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:11:00 PST

The first few days at college, and many times in the first few hours, you get a chance to reinvent yourself. Many people see this as a blessing. You can drop whatever reputation you had at your high school and in your hometown and create a new persona for yourself. The jock can show his gentler side or the jerk can try being nice to people for a change. In many ways, these first few days define you for the next four years. And for all those students out there, the universal advice that will be given to you will echo time and time again as the cliché BE YOURSELF.

While you can do this by making friends or playing the ‘right’ type of music keep this in mind: as shallow as it sounds, the first impression that people take of you is based off of your appearance, which is most often seen through your room. If the hot girl or cute guy from across the hall comes over to see an embarrassing poster, they will know you as ‘that guy/girl’ for a while. This is why decorating is essential to college life.

There are many different strategies that I have seen in my time at Santa Clara. The themed music posters all showing the same artist, the cast array of high school trophies that prove just how awesome you really are, and in extreme cases, no decorations at all. Each of these themes can tell you something about the person: the music guy has a certain taste and must prove himself as a bigger fan than everyone else. The trophy girl is an athlete and proud of the fact that she earned these awards and accolades. The person with no decorations is an enigma. They either have nothing to share with the world or they are something that is much more rare: they truly don’t care about what people think of them.

While I am none of these people mentioned above, I do confess to a theme in my dorm room: music. More specifically the Rolling Stone. I have many covers that I have collected over the years of my favorite musicians. This has helped create my image of ‘music guy’ while the Brazilian flag in the corner helped show that I was an avid soccer fan.

This blog entry is not meant to tell you that all college kids are shallow and that they will judge you quickly and maintain their judgments. You can reinvent yourself however you want to in college. There is, however, one failsafe way to ensure you get interpreted as you wish to be: decorate yourself on the walls. Take how you want to be seen and put that on the walls proudly.

Weekend Away

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:24:00 PST

Santa Clara is a place where there is always something to do. Whether it be a movie marathon with your residence hall-mates, or a game of intramural basketball, rarely is there a dull moment. However, after spending the last 3 months on campus without a real trip off (discounting returning home for Christmas), I felt it was time to get away. This opportunity manifested itself in the form of an invitation for me. One of my friends has a beach house in the beach city of Santa Cruz and invited me and some of our other friends out for the weekend. Take my word for it, if anyone ever extends a similar invitation to you, accept it. This weekend was a sort of mini-vacation that was the perfect pick me up that this winter quarter really needed.

Being only a 40-minute drive from campus, Santa Cruz is an ideal distance from the school to feel like an actual escape without entering the realm of road trip. So at about 10:30 on Saturday (which is ungodly early for the average college student), we packed up my friend’s Honda civic and started the drive to the coast. The house was located only half a block from the beach itself and was outfitted with a grill and most importantly: no TV. While I love an occasional TV show as much as the next guy, in a place like Santa Cruz, there is no need for a TV. The grill came in handy come dinnertime when we grilled out own burgers. They were amazingly delicious and tasted even better due to our location.

The entire trip was amazing from swimming in the ocean to playing Frisbee on the beach. However, I would have to say my favorite part of the trip was the sunset. While I’ve seen the sun set over the cascades many times, it is still an awesome experience to see the sunset on the pacific, especially when it is 70 degrees in February. While Santa Cruz was awesome, I am glad to be back on campus with my Swig friends and food being prepared for me.

Santa Clara Necessities

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:41:00 PST

When most students go off to college, they think about what they need for school. A visit to Bed Bath and Beyond and Office Max will suffice for your class/dorm room, but every college, depending on its region, has its secret list of necessities. For example, if a student was going to University of Washington in Seattle, you would need a Rain Coat. Again, you decided to attend Colorado at Boulder, you would need a snowboard or a set of Skis accompanied by a warm winter jacket. And, like these schools, Santa Clara has is secret list of needs. After half of a year at Santa Clara, I have boiled these needs down to three basic staples for life at a California School. They are as follows:

1. The first (and most obvious), is a pair of sunglasses. Sunglasses are one of those many things in life that you only notice how essential they are until you need them and they are nowhere to be found. The unforgiving California sun is something to be reckoned with for a kid from Seattle. My retinas would most likely have shriveled up and fallen out by now if it wasn't for my trusty pair of Ray-Bans.

2. The second is a little less obvious but still has to do with the climate. Again, my northwest upbringing did not prepare me for the need for this object, but I was glad that I brought some of them to college. This second essential object is tank tops or sleeveless shirts. Some make the arguement that tanks are optional and you can get along without one. However, I bet that when the temperature breaks 80 (which it often does) and the sun shines on the covered shoulders of these non-tanked up students, they will be ready to rip the sleeves off of their conventional shirts to join the glorious ranks of the sleeveless. (By the way, I?ve almost lost my 18 year old farmers tan).

3. The last is a little less of a necessity, but I would make the estimate that 75% of male students and 25% of female students own one of these. The long board. Coming from Seattle, I never had a long board and no one I knew really owned one or skated at all. As soon as I decided that I would be attending Santa Clara, I purchased my very own long board. I knew it was a big step, but if I was to become a full fledged Californian, I would need to learn how to shred with the best of them.

So, to all you potential students reading my blog, add three more empty boxes to be checked off you packing list. And if you choose not to heed my advice, I implore you to visit Santa Clara and simply marvel at the sheer numbers of sunglassed, tanked, and skating students you'll see.

Weather

declan.malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:05:00 PST

February 2nd. For 18 years this date was accompanied with freezing rain and a cloudy cover over the city I occupied. Waking up for school at 6:30 when it was still dark, cold and wet outside was never fun and most days barely manageable. However, I always put on a grim face, showered, and went to school, where it rained all day and I never saw the sun. While this weather was completely miserable, it was in no way unique: it was an average winter's day in Seattle and you got used to it after a while. Waking up in the winter and expecting this weather became a way to cope with the poor conditions that plagued the city. This begrudging acceptance to the wet and the cold was something that I prepared myself to live with for many years to come. Then I came to college.

For the past two weeks, it has rained once, and I have never felt the need to wear a jacket. I wake up for my 8am class at 7:40 and look out the window expecting to see a wet darkness staring back at me from my window, but I see nothing of the sort. I awake to a bright blue sky, which at first glance does not appear to have a single cloud in it. I walked to class this morning at 7:55 wearing shorts and a T-shirt with a smug smile on my face as my thoughts drifted to my father in Seattle and my sister in Indiana. My father is no doubt working the windshield wipers as hard as they can go to battle the unforgiving onslaught of rain as it pounds against his car for his morning commute. My sister (at Notre Dame) is no doubt trudging through a foot of snow as she faces what meteorologists have cleverly dubbed ‘snow-pocalypse’. I can’t help but feel good about my decision to attend Santa Clara. Not only for the incredible education, but for the ability to send pictures of me at the pool to my family in February.

The Gonzaga Game Part II

Declan.Malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:33:00 PST

The most anticipated day for Santa Clara sports finally arrived: the Gonzaga game. Students go to many games and cheer on their Broncos for many different activities, but this is on a completely different level. Something changed on campus last Thursday. There was a different feeling in the air. Crimson shirts saying ‘Teach Me How to Bucky’ could be seen on multiple people, and you could even spot the occasional throwback Steve Nash Santa Clara jersey. This game was a special one.

About an hour before the six o’clock game, most students were attending the barbeque. I had class until 5:25 and could not stop staring at the clock. My professor eventually took the hint and let us leave about 10 minutes early. After hurrying to drop off my supplies and throw on my SCU Hoops shirt, I ran to the game. The entire crowd was cheering from the time I entered about 20 minutes before the game until (and probably after) I went to bed that night.

We went into this game with the feeling that every underdog has: hope, but no high expectations. But after the first half, when the Broncos led the Bulldogs, our hopes became much more realistic. Maybe this was the year that Santa Clara would beat Gonzaga. The crowd was very into the game, cheering their lungs out every time some small thing happened that benefitted the Broncos. When something really big happened, like a swat or a three pointer, the roar of the crowd was deafening.

Growing up in Seattle, I was always sort of a Gonzaga fan. I would watch them play and root for them if they were playing a team I didn’t like very much. I knew a few of the players on their teams and had a shirt that read "Go Zags." I was, in a manner of speaking, a fan. However, all of this changed last Thursday. One of my favorite players last year was Steven Grey for Gonzaga. I loved to watch him play and his signature dreadlocks were captivating. But when I was at this game, I found myself praying he would miss every shot and mess up every time he touched the ball.

It was a great game for everyone who has ever called themselves a Bronco. Last Thursday, Santa Clara beat Gonzaga. It was a tight game throughout, but eventually, the Broncos pulled ahead and got the win. The crowd stormed the court and the celebration took to the streets. The students celebrated the win with chants of “S-C-U, S-C-U” that floated through my window and lulled me to sleep late that night. I have never felt more proud to be a Bronco.

I have watched many college games and even attended a few. I’ve had favorite teams and rooted for them proudly. I always thought that that was what being a fan was: some pride for your team, rooting them on, and putting on a grim smile and clapping half heartedly after a loss. But now that I have a team, I mean actually have a team...it’s a whole new sense of pride. I root for SCU in everything, no matter what, with an undying loyalty. I did not come to Santa Clara for the sports, but my sense of school spirit has exponentially grown following this game.

Fire Alarms

Declan.Malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:22:00 PST

What was once the best time of the day for a student in high school, is now the most dreaded day for a college student. It was once a time where you could look forward to the 20 minutes spent standing outside on the street near the school, talking with your friends instead of spending time learning about Napoleon in history class. It was something that could turn a day from a 6 into a 7. The fire alarm was something that every student looked forward to. But alas, these days are past.

Now when the beep beep beep of the fire alarm sounds, every resident of Swig Hall lets out an audible groan of exasperation and annoyance. Today was an especially bad experience for me. I was in the shower when all of the sudden I heard the obnoxious sound of the fire alarm telling me to evacuate the warm embrace of the water. Needless to say, annoyance would be an understatement in this situation. I proceeded to spend a few more seconds in the shower, then trot back to my room to put on sweats and throw my lap top in my bag to I would not die of boredom in the following minutes. So sitting here, still uncomfortably wet, I write my blog. Half clean, but fully annoyed, I await my return to the comfort of my own room.

Now this experience is not overly common, it seems though it happens every other night. Three times in as many months is how many times the fire alarm has gone off and the hundreds of residents of Swig Hall have marched down the stairs and milled about until the alarm had subsided.

Once, a person forgot to take the wrap of their popcorn and tried to cook it, leading to a smoke bomb of acrid proportions. Needless to say, every resident would like to know the name and room number of this person to pay a visit and ‘introduce themselves’. However, the administration did a stellar job in keeping the culprit anonymous.

The second incident came with something more serious occurred. Not that anything caught fire, but it was about as serious as it could be without actually flames entering the equation. We all grumbled down the many flights of stairs until we reached the second floor and a warm, light colored steam entered the stairwell. We grew quiet and began to speculate as to the reasons that this would happen. The most popular theory was that there was a fire and the steam was from the sprinklers that had automatically gone off and doused the fire but caused a steamy discharge.

However, after about a day of arguing, the truth finally came out that a water heater exploded on the first floor. The entire floor flooded about an inch of water filled the hallway. While this was less exciting than an actual fire, it was still the most destructive thing that any resident had experienced so far in the year.

While I doubt that another water heater will explode, or another person will forget how to unwrap a tasty treat before they cook it, I do not doubt another fire alarm in the future of Swig. The only thing that I do know is the feeling of exasperation hundreds of other residents and I will feel when we hear the beep beep beep of the fire alarm.

The Gonzaga Game

Declan.Malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 10:56:00 PST

While sports are important at every Division One school, there is always a single game that trumps all the others. This comes around for Santa Clara in just a few days. It comes in the form of our basketball game against Gonzaga University.

Santa Clara Basketball is not quite on the same level as it was when the legendary Steve Nash attended our University, but we are still a top-level team. Earlier this year, we gave another rival a run for their money. Growing up in Seattle right next to the University of Washington, Washington State University has never been my favorite school. The cougars are one of the best basketball teams in the Pac-10, and in my opinion, one of the best 50 in the NCAA. They are without a doubt a great team, and earlier this year, Santa Clara went toe to toe with this powerhouse.

When these two teams clashed, I expected Washington State to walk over Santa Clara because I had yet to see our team play, but when I checked the score at halftime, I realized that Santa Clara was not only competing, but they could win. I began to check the scores every few minutes because I was not around any TVs. The game progressed and the excitement heightened.

Soon enough, the last few seconds ticked off the clock and there was a tie on the score board. The Broncos took the Cougars to overtime. Unfortunately, the Broncos could not hold on to the game and it slipped through our hands. The Cougars edged us out in overtime. I was disappointed, but at the same time excited. Our team had taken a great team to overtime, and almost won the game. The Broncos had stood up and held their own on the court.

Gonzaga is arguably our "arch rival," and this is without a doubt the most anticipated game of the season. The fact that the Broncos are a great team this year makes it even more exciting. The Broncos have a chance to defeat the Bulldogs. Without a doubt, everyone on campus will either be at the game or following the game closely on TV or the radio. I believe that our Broncos will emerge victorious in their scuffle with the Bulldogs.

Did I mention that the Cougars, the team that the Bronco’s took to overtime earlier this year, beat Gonzaga in a landslide?

Go Broncos.

My Certified Friend

Declan.Malley@gmail.com (Declan Malley) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:31:00 PST

Most college students who live in the dorms live in fear of the person on their floor who has the power to get them in trouble. This person is called the Community Facilitator, which is a nice term for a person whose duty is to keep his or her residents in check. While talking to my friends at Santa Clara and some other universities, they always complain about their CF and treat them like a parent who is only there to get you into trouble. Here is where the 6th floor of Swig Hall got lucky.

Our CF’s name is Aven and he is much more than the administration's peon who would like nothing more than to write you up. Aven is a friendly guy who did an amazing job of uniting our floor and helping all of his residents with their transition into college life. While some students live in fear of the day that their CF knocks on their door, I look forward to when Aven comes down the hall. It always brings a chance of a study break, which can consist of anything from a conversation about the game last weekend to a game of Super Smash Bros. on N64. Not only is Aven a good CF, but he is one of my better friends here.

Aven is a Teaching Assistant in one of my classes and it is therefore his job to ensure that I understand the material and be my bridge to the professor. He has always been helpful with my homework in his class, but also in other subjects such as math. He is not only willing to help, but he is eager.

What makes Aven most valuable is his ability to be both a friend and an authority figure. He is very good at finding the line between friendship and boss. It is his job to ensure all of sixth floor is safe and obeying the rules, and he does so well. This is something that I feel was essential for my initial college experience, both academically and socially. Aven is more than just a Community Facilitator. This CF is a Certified Friend.