Bonjour à tous! Alice, a freshman at Rutgers Business School (RBS), speaks French, German, and Chinese and takes pride in her love for languages.  Having traveled to over fifteen countries already, this accounting major hopes to continue traveling the world. 

Shopping is her outlet. Alice lives by this inspirational quote: "Choose kindness over being right, and you'll be right every time." She's also not embarrassed to love Justin Bieber.  In addition to loving puppies and fat stuffed animals, Alice is a devout Gossip Girl, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Vampire Diaries, and Pretty Little Liars fan.  She fell in love with soccer because of the FIFA World Cup in 2010. 

Merci pour votre temps, bises.

Becky is a communications student at the School of Arts and Sciences. She hopes to focus on film and photography so she can one day work for a non-profit organization as their Public Relations and Marketing advisor. She spends most of her time hiking, hacky sacking, or playing disk.

She grew up on the classics with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, but loves watching the Travel Channel, Weeds, and Comedy Central. Whenever she is procrastinating from doing her homework, she is usually listening to the Arctic Monkeys, searching for Bo Burnham tickets, or watching Pirate Radio (seriously, it never gets old).

As a side note, Becky promises never to write in the third person for her RUblog (which, since she didn’t mention it, is her first attempt at blogging. Ever.)

In elementary school, Ben’s fifth grade teacher asked the question, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" Ben replied, “a scientist.” At Rutgers, he has long since realized that the natural sciences aren’t quite his passion; his response was generated by a need to tinker and create. Thus, his current goals are to double major in computer science and psychology, which he hopes can allow him to tinker and create in a variety of settings. Besides school, Ben plans to volunteer, and he hopes to have a job as a bartender by the end of his freshman year.  Ben holds a second degree black-belt in Tae-Kwon-Do and his Youtube channel has around 400,000 views. However, he can’t ascertain specific hobbies (mostly because he enjoys picking up new ones), but a few things have always been constant: writing, watching football, NCIS, the History, Discovery, and Military channels, cooking, and above all his friends. He believes that if he didn’t the foundation that they offer him, he wouldn’t be able to stand at all.

CarolAnn - and yes, there are two capital letters in her first name with no space between - was a new transfer student and blogger in the 2010-11 academic year. CarolAnn's favorite thing in the world is learning. 

Christine hates getting lost, but loves finding her way back even more.  You can probably find her walking around New Brunswick looking very, very confused.

Christine, in short, is a New Jerseyan, a pharmacy major, and a very happy camper.  What she intends to do with her pharmacy degree, she has no idea, only that she doesn’t plan to count pills, as she realizes that she could be easily replaced with a machine in the near-distant future.  Hailing from Demarest, NJ, she is excited for a change in pace, and is planning to have a memorable experience here.

In her spare time, Christine likes to write about anything, whether it be new experiences, old memories, or simply made up nonsense.  She loves music, as do most people, and cannot imagine what life would be like without her iPod.  And Harry Potter.  And instant noodles.  The world would be very bleak indeed.

Dave is a Honors student at the Rutgers Business School and was a blogger in the 2011-12 academic year. If his life could be summed up in a single word, that word would be "plaid" (seriously).

Dawn Angelicca is a student of the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program and enrolled in the Douglass Residential College. She is pursuing a double major in English and Classics and was a blogger in the 2011-12 academic year.

David is a lot of people (but he doesn’t have an identity disorder). You can find him in his peer mentor’s room playing the piano, in his room writing poetry, or in the halls of the Livingston Quads blasting his trumpet and then disappearing before being seen.

In addition to the aforementioned activities, he enjoys reading, listening to music, dancing, and the Busch Dining Hall. However, this list may grow to enjoying Kendo, Taekwondo, Capoeira and more by the end of this year.

David’s job favorite job by far has to be working on the Impact Team of Abercrombie & Fitch. Once one gets past the smell, and the music playlist, and how everything is overpriced, it’s really not that bad. But don’t get him started on folding boards, shelf building, and replenishing USR. On second thought, one should probably add "shoplifters" and "people ruining the table David worked an hour to set up".

David blames Soulja Boy for making any terrible song wit h a simple dance virtually immortal. Even though "Crank Dat" didn't have a bad run, it’s inconceivable how people can listen to “Stanky Legg” by GS Boyz and say that it’s a decent song with a straight face. Even the dance is lame.

Free fact:  David is an aspiring Pediatric Cardiologist and professional Hip – Hop dancer.

A student in the School of Arts & Sciences, Dorothy was a blogger in the 2011-12 academic year. Dorothy has the most difficult time answering “Where are you from” questions. She’s lived in Canada, U.S., Singapore, and China; and she loves the different experiences she’s had in each of those places. She can’t name a “favorite place” either, so please don’t ask. Before deciding to enroll at Rutgers, Dorothy never visited the university. It was actually through reading these blogs that helped her get a clearer picture of life at Rutgers. She does not doubt that she made the right choice.

Emily is a Jersey girl if there ever was one. No, she does not rock a pouf, fist pump, or partake in GTL. Emily is from Hillsborough, NJ, a place where “The Garden State” actually means something. 

As a (soon to be) journalism major, Emily loves writing, reading, and blogging. This summer she struggled with a vicious Tumblr addiction. Emily knows all things Harry Potter and is always down for a Potter-off. She promises she knows everything there is to know about the Boy Who Lived. Emily also has a wide knowledge in television because (like most college freshman) she watches too much. Do not be surprised if you cannot contact Emily when the following shows are on: Glee, Vampire Diaries, Modern Family, Survivor, The Office or SNL. Speaking of SNL, Emily dreams of becoming a comedy writer, aka the next Tina Fey. 30 Rock will be her life (minus the nerdy glasses).

Random Fact: Emily owns a pretty awesome orange triceratops pillow pet.

Heidi is a senior double majoring in Psychology and Anthropology at the School of Arts and Sciences-New Brunswick. A member of Douglass Residential College, she has active member of the University Scarlet Knights Marching Band and Pep Band since coming to Rutgers four years ago. She has been the Piccolo Section Leader for the past 3 seasons.  Another big part of her life is being a sister of Iota Sigma Beta, the one and only leadership sorority in the nation.  Some of her other activities include the Scarlet Listeners, a peer counseling and referral service; Rutgers University Leadership Empowerment Society (RULES); being a Global Ambassador for Study Abroad; volunteering at the Women's Center, and working part-time Undergraduate Admissions. After May 2012, she will pursue a Masters degree in College Student Affairs.

Phil Hoops is a first year student at Rutgers University in Newark. Hoping to work in the business world someday, he is currently attending the Business School with the intention of earning an MBA. He is eager to face the exciting challenges that await him in the near future.

As a New Jersey native, Phil is very familiar with the area near the Newark campus. He is a big fan of the New York area sports teams, including the Mets, Giants and Devils.

After experimenting with many social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, he has finally found a keeper with Twitter. It is there where he enjoys recording meaningless moments that occur daily.

In his spare time, Phil likes to hang out with friends, work on computers and watch baseball. He also enjoys listening to music. His taste in music is quite broad, ranging from Audioslave to ZZ Top. Phil is not a big traveler and feels that is what the National Geographic channel is for.

Phil, does however, look forward to sharing his thoughts with current and future members of the Rutgers community.

Jenny Lee is a pharmacy major, hailing from Washington state and a 2011-12 academic year blogger.

Jennifer Hollis is not only an admissions counselor; she's a Rutgers alumnus too.  As an undergraduate, she majored in Environmental Policy, Institutions and Behaviors (the longest major name).  She went onto get a Master’s in Public Health through a joint program between Rutgers and the UMDNJ – School of Public Health. 

When not helping prospective students, she can usually be found doing something that involves her small zoo of animals.  She has three dogs: two Shetland Sheepdogs and a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (the longest dog breed name).  She trains and competes and agility and confirmation (breed showing) with her dogs.  She also has a rabbit and a bird. Oh, and a husband who really likes animals, too.

Free fact:  Jennifer played the alto saxophone in the Rutgers Marching Band.

John Connelly hates writing introductory paragraphs.

But if he were the type that liked to write things like this, he would probably tell you that he’s from a small town in South Jersey, and that this is his first year at Rutgers. He would tell you that he is an anticipated communication major. If he liked writing these kinds of things, he might brag about going to Washington D.C. to represent New Jersey at the Al Neuharth Free Spirit Journalism Conference or the fact that he was recently published in a book about President Obama. He might tell you that he is involved in RUTV, that he is going to write for the Rutgers Review, or that he serves as Freshman Representative for EOPSA, the student government for Educational Opportunity Fund students.

Yeah, John hates writing things like that.

Free Fact: John wears a fedora almost every day and attributes this to watching too much Indiana Jones as a kid.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Jennifer moved to New Jersey during the summer of 2001. In third grade, Jennifer started playing the Bass Violin after her music teacher brought out the large, imposing instrument and played the “Jaws” theme.  Unlike Jaws, Jennifer’s Bass has yet to eat anyone.

After receiving a Wolverine boogie board from her parents, Jen entered the world of comic book fandom, never to return again. These days, she will read any English composition and writes whenever she can.

Jen cannot stand inertia and tries to stay as physically active as possible. She enjoys pick up sports games, working out at the gym, windsurfing, and rollerblading, ice skating and skiing. At age eight she played ice hockey, got fed up with how long it took to put on all of the equipment, and retired.

Jennifer passionately works in pursuit of the day where the LGBT community and all people will enjoy equal rights. 

Although she enters her freshman year not too sure of her major, she ultimately aims to contribute positively to the world in a pleasurable manner.

Free Fact: Jennifer tries to live a life thrilling and meaningful enough to be turned into a movie with a John Williams soundtrack.

Kate Wright is a totally super awesome rad freshman at Rutgers Business School with an intended double major in Marketing and Communication. [She is also the most humble person you will ever meet.] She hopes to work in Advertising after graduating on her way to becoming Don Draper from "Mad Men".  Kate loves media; Her favortite forms are movies (notably Audrey Hepburn ones), books (preferably Jane Austen ones), televison, magazines, newspapers, and possibily the most important, social media (Twitter + Facebook). As much as Kate loves Twitter, her favorite website is Dictionary.com because she relishes in comprehending exorbitant colloquialisms (likes knowing big words).
 
Kate grew up as an Air Force brat; she has lived in 7 states and has traveled to 30 of them. She went to high school in Pennsylvania where she was a huge Student Council nerd and danced in the Spring Musicals. Kate's favorite things (aka unhealthy obsessions) are: Bald Head Island, NC, Cheesecake Brownies, Christmas Music, Television (She is a dedicated fan of approx. 10 shows), and hanging out with her floormates.
 
Free Fact: Kate once counted her perfume bottles, it totalled more than 30. Unfortunately her parents wouldn't keep her stash for her while she is at college so she pared down to 8 bottles.

Kayti is a medium-sized brown-haired (mostly) nice normal girl who says she is a quarter Japanese; but nobody really believes her.  The other three quarters are Irish.  Kayti is a Class of 2015 College of Nursing student who comes from a small town called Rumson, New Jersey and is eighteen years old and likes walks on the beach and puppies and blah, blah, blah.  Kayti doesn?t particularly like walks on the beach or puppies but had to say other boring stuff so she included some things that would bore her if someone else were telling her.

The truth about Kayti is she has grown to embracer her Jersey-girl status at her Jersey-kid school, the best state school there is, though she didn't always.  Kayti grew up in a New York City suburb on the shore with family, friends, public schools, and the beach.

Kayti tries to talk to everyone she encounters.  She is aggressively curious to the point of nosiness and lacks appreciation for privacy.  As an only child, she instead embraces sharing and oversharing and assumes you want to know as much about her as she does about you.  Which is everything.  She is excited about almost everything and hopes to share that with you as she bumbles her way through college life!

Kimberly, also known as any haphazard variation of things that rhyme with her name - first and last - is a freshman at Rutgers Business School hoping to double major in Marketing and Journalism/Media Studies. And here she is, adding yet another media outlet to her growing list.

Currently a fashion editorial intern for PLASTER Magazine and the writer behind a fashion blog, she's a museum junkie with an addiction to caffeinated beverages (namely coffee, taken black). She loves a lot of things (just not mushy romance movies, namely The Notebook), but doesn't believe in love yet. Writing and dance are her passions, but she's had long time affairs with traveling, philosophical musings, good action films, European culture, and Twitter. 

And because introductions are her least favorite thing to write - she prefers to be straightforward and head right into things (for better or for worse)- she'd rather list a few fun (or maybe not) facts: she's an Aries (part stubborn, wholly passionate); a varsity dancer on her high school's team who secretly loves the rah-rah! spirit; loves heels; listens to 97.1 religiously; and can never resist a good beat. 

Lee Ann Dmochowski [dom-huf-skee] is an admissions counselor, web wrangler, photographer, gardener, mother of four and grandmother of one.  She lives with her partner, youngest children and too many pets in a small town that has no snail mail delivery or police force but plenty of renegade wildlife. ("Yeah, but can she help me get into Rutgers?"  Sure! E-mail her with any questions.)

Free Facts: Lee has portaged an eighteen-foot aluminum canoe through a cattle pasture during a thunderstorm and coasted down Mt. Washington with only the assistance of a parking brake.  She prefers when someone else removes any insects from the porch.

Hi, I’m Lorri.  I’m a transfer student, new for 2011, a single mom to 1.5 grown boys (long story!), and Cleopatra the Puppy.  I work two jobs in addition to a full time class schedule.  I’m a Landscape Architect major at Rutgers University!  Sorry, I’m just so happy to finally be here.  I’m a non-traditional student, although I steadfastly refuse to act my age.  I love riding motorcycles, gardening (of course) baking, and Cleo the puppy, so you’ll probably hear a lot about those subjects and more in my blog.  You may catch a glimpse of me around campus when I’m not working or studying; most likely places are where there are pool tables or at Rutgers gardens, so please come and say Hello!  And don’t worry about Cleo; she thinks everyone was placed on earth to be her new best friend.

Have a great semester everyone!

Melissa enjoys laughing almost as much as she enjoys breathing. A student at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences-New Brunswick, she was a 2011-2012 blogger

Nagma Kapoor was born in New Delhi, India and has lived in India, Singapore, Canada and the USA. A student in the Rutgers School of Enginering, she was a 2011-2112 blogger. 

Paige was a student at the School of Arts and Sciences and a bloggers in the 2011-12 academic year.S

Margaret Cooke is also (and preferably) known as Peggy (but never Peg, please). No, she doesn’t know how that works, she just knows she’s stuck with it. (She did finally realize that Margaret is actually a rather good name for the professional world, once you get past the image of Margaret Thatcher it may bring to mind, but she still cringes when she hears it because she figures she’s in trouble for something…thanks, Ma.)

Peggy is a non-traditional student in the School of Arts and Sciences re-entering the student body 12 years post-associate degree (15 years post-high school.) Burning out after 12 years in the health information field, she is currently pursuing a bachelor of arts in Chemistry and hopes to continue her education post grad in a Pharm.D.or Ph.D. program. There are days she wonders that the heck she got herself into, but is overall pleased with her decision to come back to school full-time.

Peggy is also a commuter, and lives with her (new) husband (whose name starts with J, but prefers to be known as "The Boy" in the blogosphere) and 2 cats (Little Kitty and Sweet Tea) about 25 miles west of New Brunswick…she thinks. (She is originally from Wisconsin and is used to having Lake Michigan as a directional…her compass has gone haywire since moving to New Jersey.)

Peggy is a fan of parentheses and ellipses, and uses them (frequently) in her blogging…

Richard Wong (born in Pennsylvania, but raised in South Brunswick and then West Windsor, NJ) always finds it slightly disorienting to refer to himself in the third person.  He has a lot of diverse interests and strives to find adventure in the world.  His hobbies include reading, writing, listening to all types of music, singing when no one else is around, Ultimate Frisbee, hanging out with his friends and floormates (Insert shoutout to the Penthouse Princesses here), late night video chats with his non-Rutgers friends, and of course, exploring and observing the world around him.  He plans to expand this list to include various other activities, and looks forward to sharing it with whoever happens to read his blogs

Ryan Feuer is a big deal. At age twelve, he received the MacArthur Grant for his work in Paleontology and subsequent discovery of a new species of man. He is both an acclaimed pianist (his rendition of the Death Waltz is incredible) and and master of the martial arts. Moreover, he claims to have discovered a flaw in Newton's Three Laws of Motion, but has yet to divulge any further. Other notable achievements include: possessing not one ounce of body fat, being the only human immune to all diseases, and defeating the Dark Lord Voldemort in 1997 (at age five). During his spare time, Ryan enjoys exploring the metaphysics of the universe, handling plutonium, and coloring. To this day, his proudest moment remains being selected as People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive."

I regret to inform you that the beautiful specimen described above is a product of an alternate universe. The real Ryan (the author of this blog) is, currently, but a mere speck in the vast world that is Rutgers University. He is an eighteen-year old freshman studying everything (or quite possibly nothing) in the School of Arts and Sciences. As Ryan's Expository Writing professor puts it, he is a "Lost Soul." Possessing a vast array of interests, he is your typical first year college student: confused, hard working (but only for the semester, he predicts), and excited. His hobbies include reading, blogging, and aimlessly riding the LX bus.  Throughout the year and through his posts, Ryan hopes to find his place in the academic world.

Seven facts about Tori

1. Most people call her Tori; the only people who ever call her Victoria are family and a few close friends.
2. She's orginally from Cranford, NJ but moved to Lebanon, NH when she was 12. While she loves NH and made tons of great friends, she still calls New Jersey her home.
3. Her first and only job was for Grassroot Soccer, a non-profit organization that fights HIV and AIDS using soccer as a teaching tool. Falling in love with Grassroot Soccer is why she plans to minor in African studies.
4. She wants to major in communications with minors in European and Afican Studies and would love to work in a foreign  embassy. After she graduates, she plans to  go to graduate school or law school.
5. She's into many different activities. In high school, she was was part of the school council for 4 years: secretary for sophmore and junior year and moderator senior year. She enjoyed writting for the school paper, being part of the environmental club and other community service activities.
6. To unwind, she likes to read, watch TV and movies, and travel. She'll read almost anything but her favorite book ever is Wicked. NCIS is the best TV show ever, Tori says.  Her two best vacations were to Ireland and Puerto Rico, the worst Toronto.
7. The most important thing about Tori is she's a die hard sports fan. The Yankees and Giants are her favorite two professional sports teams.

Will's full name is William Tomaskovic IV, though that is way too complicated, he says, so people just call him “Will”.  He's a dance BFA student who plans on double majoring in another department (though he's a  little unsure of what at the time).  His hometown is Flemington, NJ but he doesn’t really expect anyone to know where it is since it’s kind of in cow country.  Will loves Disney movies, soccer, bubble tea, Halloween, and theater.  Although dance is his priority, he will always find time to hang out with friends and participate in a plethora of activities.

Free fact:  Will has a horrendous sense of direction and once, while driving to a friend's house in Pennington (only 20 minutes from his house), he wound up in Pennsylvania.

Zach Spiegel is a first year student at Rutgers Newark who is undeclared for now.  Last spring he graduated from North Brunswick High School in central NJ.  He spent his summer working as a counselor at a sleepaway camp looking after middle schoolers for four weeks at a time, along with four other counselors.  The summer before that he ran six hundred miles in ten weeks to increase his endurance for the upcoming cross country season in the fall and the track seasons in the winter and spring.