As I embark on my second year of college, I must pause to reflect on the changes in my life since I first applied to the University. A lot has changed since high school.
A new restaurant with a familiar name has opened its doors on Fontaine Ave. Guadalajara, famous among students for its affordable food and endless supply of chips and salsa, debuted its new branch about two weeks ago. But now that there are three Guadalajaras to choose from, one on Route 29 and one on the Downtown Mall, students may have to ask the question--which one do I want to eat at? Well, as it turns out, it depends on what you're looking for. The new Guadalajara offers quite a different atmosphere than the other branches.
BUENOS AIRES--Well, I finally made it down here. Long flights, like the one from Miami to Buenos Aires, always allow time for some personal reflection, particularly if you are traveling by yourself. So, I thought, "Why am I spending an entire semester thousands of miles away from my home, my school and my family and friends?" That's a good question.
It was fourth-year College student Jessica Krechel's last summer before she had to enter the "real world," and she wanted it to count. "I'm going to be a fourth year and I have to get a job," Krechel said.
If this critic can stop just one person from wasting their money on "The Blair Witch Project," then maybe, just maybe, she will feel as though she has done some good. Never has a supposedly "scary" film been as disappointing as this lame concept movie.
There's something about Julia Roberts and weddings. In her new movie "Runaway Bride," Roberts is faced with yet another dilemma in which bridesmaids, bouquets and marches down the aisle serve as wallpaper for an entertaining yet predictable romantic comedy. This time Roberts plays small town legend Maggie Carpenter, whose history as a pathological marriage dodger brings her widespread infamy in the form of a USA Today column. Journalist Ike Graham, played by Richard Gere, is responsible for spreading the news of the Runaway Bride who, in his opinion, is one in a long list of malicious man eaters.
Before beginning, this critic has a confession to make: he is the world's number-one fan of the film "Pretty Woman." That nearly decade-old fairy tale married tenderness, laughter and love in a seamless manner that no romantic comedy has been able to match since.
Sometimes, as the song says, love just ain't enough. Apparently, the late director Stanley Kubrick had that message in mind during the three years it took him to assemble his final film, "Eyes Wide Shut." Kubrick, the overzealous perfectionist whose film triumvirate of "Dr. Strangelove," "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "A Clockwork Orange" catapulted him into the ranks of America's premiere directors, died just days after putting together his final cut of the much-ballyhooed, and equally bleak movie.
While Charlottesville isn't exactly what one would refer to as a bastion of entertainment, it does suit the average miniature golfer's needs.
Well, summer is coming to an end. Months of carefree frolicking, staying out all night and working an incredibly boring, meaningless job so that you can have enough spare money to afford midnight pizza deliveries at college are almost over. It is time to get ready to leave the comfort of your home to become a part of something much bigger, encompassing several miles and thousands of students, although your actual dorm room may be no larger than a big screen TV. I'm sure many questions are running through your head.
Take It Away proves that you can take more than sandwiches away from lunch: you can take a good overall lunch experience as well. The restaurant, which opened its doors seven years ago, offers classy sandwiches, homemade salads and a wide array of desserts.
Welcome home. Well, it's not your home yet, but it will be soon, despite your parents' wishes to the contrary.
The current special collections exhibit begs the question, how much 'hoo is in your wahoo? A piece in the show offers one way to answer: the poster reads, "If you had your life to live over again, would you still fall in love with yourself?" and "Are you a candidate for the Alcohol of Fame?" The quiz is part of "All the Hoos in Hooville: 175 Years of Life at the University of Virginia," a special collections exhibit running through Oct.
Street wise Charlottesville may not offer the most urban of scenes, but a recent exhibit at the Bayly Art Museum offers a look into street photography. "Forever in Search: Urban Street Photography in the Twentieth Century" began with a donation, Bayly curator Stephen Margulies said.
LIMA, PERU--The guy behind me at the Lima airport baggage claim had warned me. "You just can't plan for anything in South America," he said. He shared these words of wisdom in the midst of a mini airport crisis: The Lost Suitcase. The situation snowballed as we learned that not one but every single piece of luggage on my flight had been left behind in Atlanta, leaving myself and fellow passengers clueless, baggage-less and clean underwear-less for four days. This was my first lesson in Peruvian unpredictability. The subsequent lessons have proved less harsh--and more hygienic--the most important of which has been unlearning seven years of textbook Spanish. There's a big difference between drooling over novels like Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and actually living its magical realism in the crowded, crazy streets of Lima, where Peru's rich history oozes out of every eclectic storefront and every crumbling colonial mansion. In the first two weeks I have been here, I have seen things I have never seen before. The brown-clad guards decked in bullet proof vests and army boots hold tight to their automatic weapons and stand as stoic as ancient Incas.
The first thing you're warned about is the weather--vast amounts of rain, an average 60 degrees in summer, and, of course, fog--London Fog. Studying abroad in London for a month was a way for me get out of Virginia, but the class I was taking--the Culture of London--also ensured that I would get a first class non-stop tour through the highways and byways of one of the most culturally distinguished cities in Europe. Of course, the first lesson I learned is that it's foggy only when your plane is about to land.
Move-in day is a long, hot, often-not so-fun day. First years meet roommates for the first time, hoping and praying that they are normal and friendly.
Answer: "The only college campus to host Jeopardy! auditions this fall." Question: "What is the University of Virginia?" That's right, the University won Sony's College Jeopardy!
Answer: "The only college campus to host Jeopardy! auditions this fall." Question: "What is the University of Virginia?" That's right, the University won Sony's College Jeopardy!
