The first semester away at college is tough.
Last Thursday, roughly 30 students, faculty members and university employees dotted the seats of Kreger 319, a spacious lecture hall. They'd gathered for a Graduate Students of All Nations event, a Mindfulness Week session led by Miami grad student Ancilleno Davis in which international students and faculty were invited to share stories of their experiences at Miami. Apart from Leno himself, very few international students were in the crowd.
Uptown Park bustled with students, alumni and Oxford families as the Homecoming Huddle began. This new evolution of the traditional Homecoming Parade appeared to be a success among Miami fans.
It's 5:30 a.m. and Selena Pickett's alarm has just gone off. She rolls out of bed. Drowsily, she gets ready for the day -- making her bed, getting dressed and fixing breakfast in her chilly dorm room. But she has one morning routine that many others don't: she practices piano.
A new movie theater has been installed in the basement of Miami's Center for Performing Arts. But they aren't showing movies here. Instead, they are rehearsing for "The Flick," the Theatre Department's first play this season, which opens next week in Studio 88.
Officer Matt Hardin instructs me to wait in the building while he gets Roscoe out of his police cruiser. It's easy to spot which one is his because the license plate reads "K-9." The 90-pound German Shepard bounds out of the car and leaps at the door in excitement, looking happy as can be.
There was an air of uncertainty hanging over the bus stop as I arrived outside of Shriver. This was the site from which the Miami Mystery Tour Bus would depart, but the amassed people, myself included, didn't seem to know which of the various buses at the stop was ours.
Not many high school freshmen go on brewery tours with their parents. Fewer still find their life's calling on one.
Some of the most interesting working artists in the area are coming to Miami's campus this fall as part of the Contemporary Art Forum.
A neon crowd of girls stand in a black-lit room, yelling to each other over the pounding bass of the dance music. It could almost be a typical scene from a Friday girls' night Uptown. There will be dancing, maybe even a punch or two thrown. But it's 8 p.m. on Thursday night, and they're not at Brick Street, New Bar or anywhere else Uptown.
When Malory Owen was 4 years old, her parents lost sight of her at Hueston Woods. Like any good parents, they panicked, assuming the worst had happened on their guided tour.
The sun was beginning to set, the color from the sky fading and turning grey. The music from Mega Fair was still booming, but the event was dying down. People began to trickle into the area around the Sundial. Waiting.
I was scared to step into the new wing of Armstrong. That sounds a little silly, and maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration. But it's true that I avoided the new addition like the plague for the first two weeks that I was back in Oxford.
Abby Gromek can't remember the first time she stepped on a trampoline. However, she can remember the day it began to mean something more.
Welcome, welcome back, or hello again! Whether you're an upperclassman, the new kid in town, enjoying retirement, or somewhere in between, these events will help you find your place at Miami and around Oxford.
HELSINKI, Finland -- I stepped outside in my simple black two piece bathing suit, bare feet and hair tied up. The cold air hit my flushed skin and filled my desperate lungs. I could see my breath cloud in front of me. I walked along the deck, down the steps and to the ladder at the edge.
When my brother and I were home for Easter, my mom welcomed us with bowls of Raisin Bran and big mugs of decaffeinated tea, long hugs that started with her telling us how good it was to have us home, even just for 24 hours, and that ended with a kiss on the cheek. She let my brother fall asleep in the recliner and let me take the last granola bar in the pantry. She bent the old rules and put our dishes in the dishwasher for us when we, so used to dining halls and drive-thrus, forgot. But she had one firm request of us before we headed back to Oxford: Stop by the house.
When Abby Chafe received word that the cast list for Miami University's "The Wild Party" had been posted, she ducked out of her physics class early.