I did it...

I went Greek!!

I know, I know.. I said I wasn't going to do it! "It's just not me!" But I did. I found a place where I belong and life is already different, but in a very good way. I'm pledged to Alpha Delta Pi (alphadeltapi.org), a sorority founded on Christian womanhood. The moment I stepped foot into the house I felt at home and the sisters are incredible, I feel like I've known them for years. 

There's a whole lot of detail about what went on during recruitment week- too much to share on here. But I didn't go all the way through recruitment. I dropped out a little over half way through because I wasn't ready to make a decision. My decision was well thought out and prayed over. 

                     Elvira, Alex (my PiPal) and me!

A lot of people are totally against Greek life- sororities. I was too, but Greek life on my campus is wayyy different than greek life on other campuses. Our sororities are very, very small- the maximum a house can have is 32 people. That's smaller than a PLEDGE class at Georgia Tech (I know this because a friend went greek there). Greek life is part of the tradition on our campus. It's not something we take lightly.

Needless to say I will be extremely busy from now on! I will try to post when I can but it probably won't happen often! Between homework, class, sorority stuff, "me" time, and I'm on overload! But I wouldn't trade it for anything and I'm actually thinking about adding more! ;)

School is going really well. I reworked my schedule- priorities included and I feel like I'm heading in the right direction! I've cut wayyyy down on my internet time (which is also a reason I won't be posting as much) and added more intense study schedules. We'll see how it goes!

My friend Alli came to tour campus on Friday! It was fun to have somebody from home come to visit and hang out and LOVE it here, too!!!

Hope everyone is doing well!!

me!

SURPRISE!!!!

This past weekend my biggest planning event ever took place! I'm sooo excited to share it with you guys! For the past 3 months I've been planning a surprise for my best friend who is going to school in Virginia. See, her 19th birthday was yesterday and I knew that being in a state 12 hours away would be hard so I wanted to make it special!

Longgggg story short I flew up there Saturday morning! And boy did we have a great time!!

I'm going to do this post in pictures :) because I don't have the energy to write out a whole post ;) We had a lot of late nights while I was up there but it was totally worth every second of missed sleep!

here's me on the plane :) I had to write that note backwards cause my camera takes pictures mirror image 

the surprise!!!
Zach (my partner in crime) me and Lauren!!!! 
we took a splendid trip to the beach and had a fantastic time! I loved meeting all of Lauren's new friends; they're a great group!

Mrs. Denise, Me, Lauren and Alli cooking!

Lauren's mom, sister, our friend Alli and Alli's mom drove up Friday night to surprise Lauren too!!! We had a fun seeing each other again! It's been like a month! haha that sounds like such a small amount of time but it felt like years!

Saturday was my surprise day! I was hiding in Lauren's dorm room when Alli, Mrs. Denise, Mrs. Rhonda, Bethany and Lauren got back from a college tour! After that we headed to the beach and had a fun time getting beat by waves and playing volleyball. As we were leaving we saw about 12 dolphins out where we had been swimming! One of them jumped up and did a twist in the air! Beautiful! That night we came back and had a delicious meal baked by the wonderful Mrs. Denise and then surprised Lauren with decorations and cake in the boys dorm room.

Sunday morning we went to church, out to lunch and shopping and went back to the dorms for a yummy meal of lasagna that Mrs. Rhonda had prepared for us. We ate and talked and then headed to the beach to worship! We stayed out til about 2 oclock, had a dance party in the parking lot and then went back to the dorms for some games! We ended up going to bed around 4:30!!! :O

It was such a fun weekend! I didn't want to come back to school!

I love it here though.

Just a few updates:

Today we had convocation and a really impressive author came to speak to us. Her name is Carmen Agra Deedy and her story telling skills are phenomenal!! Her challenge to us was to not be timid but to embrace every opportunity as it arises. "Timid women seldom make history"

Tomorrow is the start of recruitment. :/ 

I'm pretty sure I kicked butt on my global warming essay exam. We'll see how the professor grades it though.

Life here on campus is going splendidly. I've loved every second of life here!

I think my friend Alli is going to come visit the school this weekend- I'm pretty excited about that! I love to have visitors! :) And mail *hint hint* ;)

Anyway, that's all for now!

 I hope you had a great Labor day weekend!

*here's my verse for the day/year- 2 Timothy 4:3-5 "³For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. ⁴They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. ⁵But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry."

Hope you guys had a great Labor Day weekend!

"..I think I can, I think I can.."

Today I feel like the Little Engine Who Could.

I am up to my ears in homework, the to-do list just keeps getting longer, due dates are coming closer and nothing is getting marked off of my list. Each assignment has so much to it that there's no way to finish it in one sitting. For instance, next Tuesday in Biology I have an essay exam. That shouldn't be too difficult, huh? Well, this essay exam has three questions. Those three questions are:  "Is global warming taking place?" "Since global warming only amounts to 1-2degrees C, what evidence is there that this amount could be important in its environmental impact?" and "If global warming is taking place, is human CO2 production responsible?" Pretty hard core questions, right? Well the professor is requiring us to research *ahem, I have more to say on this*, come up with 10 pieces of evidence for each question, formulate responses and regurgitate them (without notes) on our exam Tuesday morning. On top of that being rather difficult, I happen to disagree with the professor on some of his stances so I have to make sure my evidence and presentation are strong. 

.. I think I can, I think I can..

On top of this assignment I have to read 70 pages of Beowulf, two chapters in the Bio book + answering 25 questions and studying for a quiz, two lessons of college algebra, a blog post about my political typology (received from an online quiz), reading a chapter each from both of my freshman seminar books, and a myriad of other little things all before this Friday. 

.. I think I can, I think I can..

3 more days of class until the weekend.. a long weekend.

.. I think I can, I think I can..

I'm focusing on my Creator, the Sustainer of life, and the One who gives me strength. He's made Himself so evident to me thus far in the college experience and I know He'll give me the strength, wisdom, patience and will-power to make it through this and the difficult times that are still to come. 

.. I know I can, I know I can..