"I grew up here in South Bend. Going to school out-of-state last semester just didn't quite feel like home, because Notre Dame set my standards high. So I transferred. Now I'm living out my life the way I know I was meant to: at Holy Cross College."
              "What sets Holy Cross apart?"
"Everyone knows everyone. It's such an intimate community. Even after being here for just a few weeks, I've made close friends and recognize names and faces. It feels a little odd even coming to the Notre Dame campus for my chemistry class, because it just doesn't quite feel like the Holy Cross 'home.' This morning, when I went to breakfast, I saw my writing professor and sat with him and chatted. I don't think you could find a community like Holy Cross anywhere else."

And he had one more thing to add that surprised me (yet made me smile to no end): "Last semester, when I was down in the dumps about feeling away from this place that feels like home, I found your blog. It kept me hopeful, to see glimpses into the family at Notre Dame while the semester played itself out. I was actually going to send you a message about it today, but I guess you found me first!"

Seen in the Cavanaugh basement: Making the best of a snow day through workout videos directed by an AR. 

                     "What's that on the bottom right of the sign you're working on?" (They had two signs in progress.)
"A rock. Well, actually, it's a Poké-rock."

Seen in LaFun.

"It's cool, but I think it's bringing bad luck tonight."

            "What's something you have struggled with in navy ROTC?"
"I would have to say that the ROTC time commitment has been my biggest struggle. I had to learn effective time management pretty quickly so that I could focus on my studies, ROTC, and extracurriculars. I have had so much support from the girls in my dorm and my Notre Dame family over the past few years. It's been an amazing experience."

                  "What is something people might not know about you?"
"That I'm nice."

            "What's something that seminarians go through that most people wouldn't realize?"
"Especially at the beginning of the year, but still now, people were very wary to talk to me. They would apologize if they cursed around me. It was funny, in a way. But in another way, it was rough. I think all of us seminarians have gone through this. I want people to recognize that I'm a normal college guy. I love running, hanging out with friends, being sarcastic—normal college stuff. I am discerning a life with Holy Cross and perhaps the priesthood, but other than that, chances are I'm more like everyone else than they suspect."

“Everyone probably says this, but it’s because it’s true: I love the people at Notre Dame. It’s a community unlike any other. It’s the same reason you made this blog. The diversity and cohesiveness of the community is outstanding. You can be from X background, X race, X religion, and yet you can still call the sphere of Notre Dame your home. You’ve seen this—even with people out in the real world, you connect immediately on an intimate level if you have both gone to Notre Dame. I think sometimes Notre Dame gets a bad rap as being standoffish or even a little cliquey, but that’s not it at all. It’s that we have a community that is impossible to explain unless you step onto campus and experience it yourself. And I think students are drawn to that. They see it, love it, and perpetuate it.”

And finally: “Take it in while you can. Because, as a senior, I’m going to miss it.”

“I’m a member of the World Hunger Coalition on campus. We raise money for organizations that fight hunger, whether it be internationally, the Northern Food Bank of Indiana, or locally. The Wednesday Lunch Donation might be the biggest thing we do—or, at least, the most consistent thing. I participated in it in the fall and I’ll be doing it again this semester. All you do is give up a lunch swipe between 10-2 on Wednesdays. The funds from the money saved go to hunger-fighting organizations chosen by the World Hunger Coalition. Of course it’s a nice thing to do. But it’s also an act of solidarity. On Wednesday, when you’re saying, ‘I wish I could go to lunch,’ you can think about the people that you’re helping.”

I like the idea so much that I signed up for it, and to help spread the word, I am including the link to sign up for the Wednesday Lunch Donation. I encourage all students to participate and to discover that a small act can make a big difference: https://docs.google.com/a/nd.edu/forms/d/1CYdp7_V1r9ImpujoeOq30cyr_7r0eFcvYEE4AMPNDXw/viewform

"My RA freshman year was one of the best people I've ever met. In fact, I just got a snapchat from her. She helped me open my eyes to the fact that, well, I love this place. So by the end of junior year, when my friends were saying, 'Let's move off-campus!', I was saying, 'I'd rather not.' Because what I'm finding to be more and more true is that there are as many, if not more, opportunities at Notre Dame outside the classroom. I wouldn't have met many of the girls in the building if I had chosen to live off-campus."
                "What challenges does an RA face that people might not expect?"
"You have to learn to still budget time for yourself. Sometimes you can get caught up in the activity of your section or the whole dorm, but you can't forget to take care of yourself."

                 "You seem to know all the people leaving the game tonight!"
"You recognize faces after 19 years. I usher at football, hockey, and both women's and men's basketball. I love being able to talk to and meet the fans. This season, I probably saw three football plays total. I let the other ushers watch the games
and they leave me to my chatting!"

Seen at Compton Family Ice Arena.

The little guys were more interested in their Swedish Fish than in talking for a blog (who wouldn't be?), but Dad eventually helped me get them going.

Oldest brother: "At the lake here, I caught a junior-mouth bass."
Dad: "Small."
Oldest brother: "Oh. Right. A smallmouth bass."

As for the basilica?
Middle brother: "We've been there thousands of times. Millions! Billions! Trillions!'

The youngest brother was more interested in observing.

Dad: "I went to Notre Dame. Now I'm the campus ministry director at Holy Cross. These guys were getting a little restless staying at home, so we came here."

He recognized me from having seen me conduct a prior IAND interview and was excited to hear that the Facebook page was almost at 1,000 likes! I said, "I'm thinking of doing something special once we hit that," and he said, "Yeah! To celebrate, you can interview me!"
So that's exactly what I did.

              "What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?"
"On Urban Plunge, I met a man who told me:" (his delivery here was key)
"The most powerful thing you can be
is
yourself."

"When I was a rector, I used to give this piece of advice to all freshmen. Father Malloy said it: 'Don't confuse your self-worth with your GPA.' You are not a failure if you do or do not go on to Harvard Medical School. Don't let others' standards define you. You must develop your own standards to determine what kind of human being you want to be. Ultimately, you are the only one whose standards you must satisfy."

We did it! 1,000 likes on the IAND Facebook page! (If you'd like, you can pretend the snow in this picture is confetti falling on campus in celebration.)

I am humbled and amazed by the support this page has received since its birth in November. 1,000 is a big number and an even bigger milestone. Thank you for your likes, comments, support, and passion for all members of the Notre Dame community.

If you would like to find IAND on another platform, feel free to visit at iamnotredame.tumblr.com and facebook.com/iamnotredame! 

With your support, I hope I Am Notre Dame will continue to inform, inspire, and uplift...and here's to another thousand!

Lila and John are, as it seems, a campus-famous married duo of card swipers at South. I initially asked John, "What piece of advice would you give the class of 2014?" He thought for a while, then finally decided he wanted to ask his wife.

He called Lila over and asked her my question.

Without hesitation, she looked right at me and said, "There are no failures. Nothing you do is a failure. If something does not go as planned, it simply means you have figured out what doesn't work."

This wasn't John's first interview; he listed off a variety of sources that had interest in what he had to say, including NDtv, the Observer, and the yearbook!

"I stay young by working here and talking to all the kids. I don't want to sit around all day and talk to old people about the same things."
             "Is it hard to hold a conversation while students are constantly moving through the dining hall lines?"
"I recognize many, many faces. My wife Lila and I work the same shift here every night. I have a list of jokes to tell. I'm always coming up with new ones. You've heard some of mine before! And I ask the occasional question. I like to know what people are doing and where they are from."

Nearing the end of our conversation, he handed me a piece of paper that read, "Amrita Willighagan, Jackie Evancho, Mary Margaret". He explained who each person was and told me to look them up: "I like to keep little things like this so I can give them to kids to look them up and learn something small every day."

And to top it all off: "I'm going to be 100 in 14 years!"

“Something unique to St. Mary’s, I think, is how it prepares girls to be successful. All my college friends are now successful in what they do. And that’s everything: doctor, stay-at-home-mom, lawyer, teacher, engineer. We had an atmosphere that not many other schools have: the classrooms are independent of that extra factor of boys. So in the classroom, we could focus on community and education, but being close to Notre Dame, we could still make friends who were boys.

“I’m proud to say I went to St. Mary’s. When I applied to colleges, I was accepted to Notre Dame, too, and I never, ever, ever, ever regretted not going to Notre Dame, that I chose St. Mary’s. As much as I do love Notre Dame. I have huge respect for it—my father, my friends went to Notre Dame, and I love being there. But I never once thought I made the wrong decision.”

Happy New Year from I Am Notre Dame! Stay warm, stay safe, and enjoy your time with friends and family.
Thank you so much for the support and advice during the two months of this blog's existence. 2013 has been an indescribably beautiful year. I can't wait to see where I Am Notre Dame takes me this year. The kindness and openness of the Notre Dame family is truly astounding. Here's to an amazing 2014, and, as always, go Irish!

"You're looking at three former band members! Piccolo, drums, and" (not pictured) "cymbals!"