Planning Spring Break Tips

Spring semester is in full swing and before we know it, midterms will be on our desks and staring us in the face, but along with our dreaded midterms we also get Spring Break! Yay! My friends and I want to plan a small trip to California for our break, so we’re starting the planning/booking now! My advice to any students wanting to get out and travel for Spring Break is, Plan Now! I’m already finding that hotel rooms are going fast and the longer you wait, the higher the room rate. Also if you’re looking to save some money on your hotel accommodations I suggest finding out if the hotel has AAA discounts or military discounts. This can save you a couple dollars. I have also found that booking through a third party such as hotels.com, expedia, or priceline, you can find some cheaper room rates through them instead of booking strictly through the hotel, but once again make sure to do your research. Even though it may seem cheaper through a third party, sometimes with certain discounts offered through the actual hotel you can possibly get a better deal. Once again, just research. This also goes for Adventure/Theme parks. Most of them have AAA and military discounts, so make sure to find out.

Spring break is a time of fun, relaxation, and good times. Just be sure to research and plan ahead! Hope everyone is enjoying the weather and until next time, Have a Fantastic Day!



Lonni Summers

Topia Inn- An Eco-Friendly Hotel

For my Tourism Accommodations I had to look for an article about hotels. To my great surprise I found a wonderful article in The New York Times called “An Inn Is an Oasis from Environmental Affronts” about a bed and breakfast in Massachusetts called the Topia Inn. Yet, this is no ordinary bed and breakfast. The Topia Inn is an “Eco-Friendly” bed and breakfast with style, artistic direction, and a unique experience to offer guests. The owners Caryn Heilman, a former dancer, and Nana Simopoulos, a music composer, are both artists and wanted to provide people with a green experience and show that people do not have to give up comforts to be eco-friendly, but there are some rules the guests do have follow if they choose to stay there. The rules include, no smoking, no chemical fragrances or bug repellants, shoes cannot be worn inside the Inn at all and must be left outside or covered with the inn’s neoprene booties, and also guest have to leave all grooming products at home but complimentary organic bath and body products are provided. Another awesome feature about this bed and breakfast is that almost everything about this inn is eco-friendly. The building was an abandoned hotel and the current owners decided to recycle it and add solar panels, layers of colored clay on the walls instead of paint, and the insulation is made from recycled jeans. Even some of the furniture is made from salvaged wood.

Customers have the option of picking from 10 different rooms each with a different theme and designed by different artists. Each room has a flat screen TV with a DVD player and the Inn also offers free wireless internet to its guests. Depending on the room, the bathrooms offer guests a whole new level of relaxation. There is either a low-flow, energy saving bathtub that has chromotherapy, which are colored lights that illuminate the water and in other rooms there is a low-flow rainfall shower that has aromatherapy within the showerhead.

I thought this hotel was so amazingly cool! If I ever got the chance I would definitely check it out if I was in Massachusetts. This inn is very unique and to find a hotel that is eco-friendly and comforatable at the same time is great. I have also posted the links to article in The New York times and also the link to the hotel’s webpage. Until next time, Have a Fantastic Day!!!

Article-http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/travel/escapes/05greeninn.html?scp=1&sq=topia%20inn&st=cse

Topia Inn Webpage- http://topiainn.com/



Lonni Summers

Blog of the Week- Favorite thing to do in Downtown Phoenix

It’s that time again! Yes readers it’s time for the blog of the week. This week’s topic is what is “our favorite thing to do in Downtown Phoenix”. As usual I couldn’t really narrow stuff down because there is a ton of things I like to do here so I’ll just give you all a short rundown of what activities I like here in Phoenix.

My top choice for activities here in Downtown Phoenix has to be all the sporting events. I absolutely love going to baseball and basketball games. They are SO much fun and if you can find specials and deals for tickets, it makes it that much better! I also love all the concerts and shows that come to the Downtown area. Even though I have not been to a show lately there have been quite a few to roll in Arizona and many of them take place Downtown. Another activity I like doing here is walking around and finding new places to try and get lunch at. That’s usually a tasty adventure! Lastly I really just love grabbing a coffee or tea and relaxing in the Civic Space park when the weather is nice. It’s so cool to just take a load off or do some reading.
These are just a few activities I like to do when I’m in this area. I encourage everyone to at least try one of these things listed. All of them are great! Have a Wonderful Day!



Lonni Summers

Apply for the Spirit of Service Scholars Program!

ASU's College of Public Programs is accepting applications from ASU undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in any field of study dedicated to careers in the public and nonprofit sectors who want to join the Spirit of Service Scholars program.

The program addresses the present and future workforce needs in the public and nonprofit sectors by awarding prestigious $5,000 scholarships to 15 outstanding students, and providing them with extraordinary intellectual and practice experiences, a lifelong interdisciplinary network, and committed, effective mentors.

More information is available at http://spiritofservicescholars.asu.edu/; contact soss.info@asu.edu.

The deadline for applications is April 2 for the Fall 2010 semester. Applicants need not demonstrate financial need, but must show seriousness of purpose.

This is a great program and I hope everyone applies! Have a Wonderful Day!



Lonni Summers

Blog of the Week- Favorite Classes so Far

For this week, our Blog of the Week topic is “what is our favorite class we’ve taken at ASU so far”. This is kind of hard for me to answer because I have taken many classes and with each semester I find I class that I absolutely love so instead of picking just one class I’ll pick one for every semester!

Fall 08
My favorite classes for that semester had to be dance (modern), sociology, and English 202. My dance class was so much fun! I’ve been a dancer since before high school and when I started signing up for classes I really wanted to try a college dance class, so I took modern dance and I loved it! My sociology class was a class of about 350 students and it was at the main campus and at first I thought it would be a really lame class but it was actually so interesting and the professor was hilarious! If you ever get a chance to take Sociology 101 with Professor Whitaker, DO IT! She’s awesome. Last, my Eng 202 was a world literature course, and I am such a book worm so this class was great for me. We covered a lot of literature and wrote so many essays, but it was so worth it. I loved the content and I really enjoyed the stories we covered in class.

Spring 09
For my second semester in college, I was so excited to take Intro to Travel and Tourism (TDM 205). I had the great pleasure of having Professor Tee teach the course and it was Awesome! We learned about the many different aspects of tourism and also the different kinds of tourism. Taking this class really increased my interest in the tourism field and made me want to learn so much more about this field. Plus Professor Tee is an amazing instructor and made the course that much better. I also really liked my Public speaking class. At first I was really nervous about this course and was scared that I would get a really bad grade for my speeches, but I had a blast in that class and I also improved on my public speaking skills.

Fall 09
Last semester was a little bit rough on me, but I got through it ok. Even though it was one of my hardest semesters I still had two classes I totally loved. One was Human Sexuality (FAS 332) and the other was Inclusive Community Development (TDM 302). My Human Sexuality class was a lot a fun actually. We covered EVERYHTING in that class! The course was great but so was the instructor. Professor Goldblatt was so entertaining and so informative, I couldn’t wait to go to class every day. For my Inclusive community class I had Professor Rodriguez who is also a wonderful instructor. The class covered the topic of diversity and how to have and keep diversity in your workplace. It was a very intriguing topic and I really enjoyed the discussions we would have in class.

Spring 10
This semester I am really enjoying my Tourism Accommodations (TDM 325) class. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I really would like to get into the hotel sector of tourism and this class in right up my alley! I’m looking forward to learning as much as I can this semester!

The list is kind of long, but I really couldn’t narrow it down any more than I did. If you get the chance take some of these classes or try to get a class with one of the professors I listed. Hope everyone is having a fantastic day!



Lonni Summers

A Very Proud Big Sister

Today at 11:45am, 24 football recruits returned signed letters of intent to ASU. Among these young men was my little godbrother, Ramon Abreu. On azcentral.com they wrote a small article and posted a few pictures of this event. After reading the article and viewing the photos I feel myself start to get a little teary eyed. A flood of memories wash over me and I find myself thinking about the many childhood adventures Ramon and I had. Rollerblading and playing hockey in the tennis courts, riding our bikes and getting into whatever mischief we could find, and chugging Capri Suns on the steps during hot summer afternoons, whatever we did, we did it together. Even as a kid, Ramon was always the best at sports. From football, baseball, basketball, you name it, he did it and he did it well. In my eyes, there was nothing Ramon couldn’t do. He was always the fastest, the toughest, and the best. Growing up together taught me a lot of things and even when we would get into our meaningless squabbles, we always made up in about an hour and would find some other fun/trouble to get into.

I never realized how protective I was of my little brother till we got to high school. This is when I started seeing all the little girls around him and he would have an occasional girlfriend here and there. I don’t think I have scared so many girls in my life. If they were around my brother, it was on. Even at our high school dances I would find myself shooing away girls that would dance all on him. Yeah, that was NOT happening while I was around. I know he hated me for it and thought I was overreacting, but in the end we both knew it was out of love and we would both get over it and have a laugh the next day in school.

Today, Ramon is a senior at Marcos de Niza high school and will be at ASU in Fall 2010 playing football as a Sun Devil. I cannot wait for next semester to be in those stands cheering on my little bro. As I look back on our childhood I can’t help but smile and feel a swell of pride for my brother. I have watched him grow from a carefree kid to an amazing young man. We may not be blood related, but in our eyes we have always been siblings and he will always be my little brother. Ramon, I am so proud of you and all of your accomplishments. I wish nothing but the best for you and your future. Always remember you have a big sister that will love and protect you no matter what and always support you in whatever you do. I love you Ramon.


Lonni Summers

Blog of the Week- Classes I’m Excited for & Dreading this Semester

With a new semester in swing, the StARs decided to do something called “The Blog of the Week”. This is where all of us write about one particular subject during the week and this gives our readers a chance to see different views and opinions on the subject. This week’s subject is what classes we are looking forward to and the classes we’re less than excited about. For this Spring semester I am really looking forward to my Tourism Accommodation class (TDM 325). I really would like to get into the hotel sector of tourism, so this class is right up my alley. I even find my textbook interesting! Professor Lee is teaching the course this semester and I am really looking forward to getting deeper into this subject. I am also looking forward to my Nature-based tourism class (TDM 480). I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it or not but it is actually pretty interesting. We will be covering ecotourism, sustainable tourism, and of course nature-based tourism. I think it will be pretty cool learning something outside my area of interest and also because of this class I got really excited to visit New Zealand which is doing amazing things for ecotourism and becoming a sustainable country, so now I am planning a trip there hopefully for December 2011!

With every semester we always have at least one class we know we’re going to struggle in or just dread going to. This semester I have to say my online Tourism Marketing class will probably be pretty difficult for me. Don’t get me wrong, I like the content and the subject of marketing is very important in the tourism industry but there is SO MUCH reading for this class. Not only do we have textbook readings but also articles that are occasionally posted on Blackboard and these can be pretty long. I’m not really an “online class” type of person and considering this is my first online class, I’m a little worried. I like being in class, hearing the lecture from the professor, and getting extra little bits of information when I’m in the classroom. I feel like I can’t really get that from an online class. Hopefully I’ll be able to get into the groove of this class and make it through it with a decent grade, but of course it is going to be a challenge. Till next time, hope everyone has an Amazing Day!



Lonni Summers