by JENNIFER HA

Familiar Faces is a regular piece that features faculty and staff members who are new or new to their positions around Augustana and their answers to a series of non-formal questions.

This week, we asked Augustana alumnae Tia Lalani and Samantha Christensen the following questions to get them thinking about the holiday season:

1) What’s at the top of your wishlist this holiday season?

2) What’s your ideal vacation?

3) If you’re hosting a dinner party, what would be on the menu?

Tia Lalani, Communications Assistant for the External Relations Department

1) Some boots I’ve had my eye on. I’m trying not to spend my entire paycheck on things to wear to work, which can be a vicious cycle, so getting them as a gift would be great.

2) I’d like to sound sophisticated and worldly and choose somewhere with a lot of interesting history and culture, but honestly it’d be laying on a beach somewhere.

3) My mom makes wicked Indian food so I’d steal some of her recipes – samosas and kuku paka (coconut chicken). And also a lot of beer and wine! ☺

Samantha Christensen, English instructor

1) A book light and a sensible pair of shoes. Failsafe gifts for an English instructor.

2) Right now I think my ideal vacation would be to go on the Harry Potter studio tour in London. However, that might require me to come to terms with the fact that Harry Potter is fiction, and I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet. 

3) Probably something burned, since I’m a terrible cook. But it would be okay because there would be lots of wine. 

Samantha Christensen, English Instructor

Tia Lalani, Communications Assistant for the External Relations Department