Tell the World I'm Coming Home

Boston, you're my home

As I sit in the Philidelphia airport for the fifth time this month, I am so excited be here because my next stop is Boston! I am always excited to head home for my week off to relax and rejuvenate but this time is different because I'm going home from my last campus visit of the semester. I have had an amazing time traveling since August but it is finally time to relax a little longer (once I complete all my grad school applications) and to spend time with family and friends. I love doing fun things while I'm home but I also like to just spend low-key time with my mom taking in being home.

This week is Thanksgiving, which for me means sleeping in enough to catch the end of the parade and spending the day with my family taking bets on how long my dad will spend with the deep frying the turkey in the backyard. This year is an even bigger deal because it is also Hannukkah. This is the earliest in November I ever remember it falling and it should become quite the event for my family. Since my dad plans a menu for everything and is very into cooking and trying new things, the Thanksgivakkah menu is a bit daunting. For one, who needs an entire roast beef and fried turkey? But we wouldn't do Hanukkah or Thanksgiving with out it, respectively, so this week we eat both at one meal.

I am always so excited to go home to my mom and to spend time with her when it's just us during the year. But this time my sister, Rachel, will be home for Thanksgiving break! I haven't seen her since before I left for my first visit back in August so we are both excitied with anicipation. The "i miss you" snapchats are almost done because I will see her after four whole months in just a couple hours!

 Rachel and I on one of my last days home in August

Rachel and I have a unique relationship because we have the same sense of humor and love to joke around but our personalities clash a lot on certain things. I love her so much and am so excited to spend the next five days together, because that is the perfect amount of time for us to enjoy doing everything together. Plus she'll be back in just a few weeks after her finals and we will get to do the holiday time all over again.

While I'm home I plan to see a bunch of UConn friends that I haven't seen in a while, which I'm super excited about. I'm also looking forward to catching up on my favorite tv shows and to seeing Catching Fire. As much as I like Starbucks, Dunkin iced coffee will alway be my favorite. And since I drink iced coffee year round, I can't wait to get it when I'm home. My new iPhone 5S and pretty Lilly Pulitzer case are waiting for me at home, too! 

Happy Thanksgivukkah y'all!

Post title from: Coming Home by Diddy

Miss Ohio

Alpha Kappa, Miami University

I had a fun time visiting Miami because there is so much fraternity and sorority history on campus. I had visited briefly a year and a half ago on my Greek Alternative Spring Break trip with UConn so I had been looking forward to revisiting some of the history and learning about AEPhi's history on campus.

The sorority quad that houses all the suites

While I was on campus I attended Shabbat with the president and advisor. It was actually my first Shabbat service since being at UConn Hillel last year so I enjoyed that. They also served Thanksgiving food and matzoh ball soup that was delicious!

The campus is so pretty and everything is brick. It all looks very old but in a beautiful way. A lot of the fraternity and sorority history at Miami has to do with the fact that five national organizations were founded there. The Miami Triad is made up of three fraternities: Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, and Sigma Chi. All three chapters were founded on campus in the 1800s and each still has their Alpha chapter open today. Then in the very early 1900s, Delta Zeta Sorority and Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity were founded at Miami. These foundings have given Miami University the nickname of the "Mother of Fraternities" and has made it a popular campus for other organizations to charter at. There are also a lot of landmarks on campus donated by Greek organizations because of this.

Kappa Kappa Gamma's centennial memorial (Shout out to my sister, Rachel!)

Delta Zeta' s concrete memorial to commemorate their centennial

Delta Zeta's four other concrete memorials to the Alphas chapters in commemoration of Delta Zeta's centennial

Phi Delta Theta's Elliot Hall plaque marks the dorm room where, in 1848, the secret society was first formed.

Phi Delta Theta's Gates at the historic entrance to the university. It was given to celebrate their 125 year anniversary and their International Headquarters is right across the street.

Beta Theta Pi donated this bell tower to the university in 1939.

Tri Delta's sundial, which tells the exact solar time on four days of the year.

Some other cool landmarks are the Phi Kappa Tau Circle, Alpha Delta Pi's memorial bench and plaque celebrating 150 years, and Alpha Phi's sculpture for their 50th anniversary at Miami.

"To think that in such a place, I led such a life."- Anonymous (Miami University's unofficial motto)

Post title from: Look at Miss Ohio by Gillian Welch, covered by Miranda Lambert

I'm in Minnesota

Alpha Iota, University of Minnesota

This was my first trip to the state of Minnesota and I was pretty excited because I had heard Minneapolis is a cool city. Mall of America is about 15 minutes from campus and they have all sorts of famous local things. Unfortunately my visit was pretty short and packed with meetings so I didn't get to explore more than the area around the university.

That's not to say it wasn't cool, because there is so much around the university, which pretty is integrated into the city. I stayed with sisters in an appartment directly across the steet from the football stadium and all along that street are cool restaurants and some chains. I went to Bona, a Vietnamese restaurant, with one of the chapter advisors and it was very good (I've been eating Vietnamese food my entire life so I feel like I can make that call). 

view of downtown Minneapolis from the West Bank campus, across the Mississippi River

Minnesota's mascot is Goldie the Gopher and I thought the statue of him outside the Coffman Union was great. On Tuesday night we went bowling with a fraternity at the lanes in the student union. I thought it was cool that there was a snack bar, bowling alleys and gaming systems all in this area of the union. The president also told me that the building supposedly was built to look like a gopher from the front.

Something unique about my visit is that the Fraternity and Sorority Life advisor at Minnesota was my UIFI chapter leader when I participated in UIFI three and a half years ago. It was great to make the connection before I even arrived. And then we got to catch up and he gave me some great restaurant suggestions!

Post title from: Ten Thousand Lakes by Kid Dakota

Hello, I'm In Delaware

Phi Chi, University of Delaware

I had such a nice visit to Delaware. I got a tour of Main Street and campus right when I arrived and tried some great restaurants. I stopped in to Unique Impressions to see the real store, since I had only seen their AEPhi boutique at convention. Campus was so pretty and the weather was unusually warm during most of my visit, which was a nice change.

quad looking down to Memorial Hall

My visit to Delaware was a very exciting one because they had a lot of events going on. My first evening was their first annual Ribbons on the Runway fashion show, which was part of their Pink Week for Sharsheret. It was such a fun event and the participants were very creative in their attire. The next evening was Pink Shabbat at Hillel, where we had pink challah. Saturday was dedicated to eboard elections and transitions and was definitely a long day. And then on Sunday was the dance marathon's holiday party with each team's heros. I got to meet AEPhi's hero, Kate, and play with her all afternoon at the fun event.

Phi Chi at Ribbons on the Runway

I also had some great food during my visit. My first day the president, Rachel, brought me to Home Grown, a place with lots of local food. I obviously tried Newark Deli & Bagels (NDB as they all call it) and a group of us did dinner at a nicer Italian place called Taverna. On Sunday Rachel and I went to Central Perk, a little coffee shop on Main, to get coffee and do some work. It was a nice place to get things done because they have a bunch of tables with a lot of outlets. I had an avocado, mozzarella and tomato sandwich on focaccia bread at Rachel's recommendation and I had the blended iced coffee, which is almost like a coolada or Israeli iced coffee.

pink table settings for Pink Shabbat

Another cool part of my visit was getting to see some women from camp. I went to a Jewish overnight camp in Massachusetts called Camp Pembroke and there happen to be a few women in Phi Chi that also went there. Additionally, their adviser Amy went to Pembroke and was a counselor back when I was a camper. It was cool to see them years later and find out that we are all sisters!

Phi Chi's UDance Hero, Kate

Post title from: Hello, I'm In Delaware by City and Colour

Dream of Columbus

Rho, Ohio State University

I had a great time at Ohio State because the women were fabulous and there is so much to do! Most of the fraternity and sorority houses are within a few blocks of each other, right off to the side of the university campus. To get to campus, you cross North High Street, where there is a Starbucks, Urban Outfitters, a bookstore, and lots of places to eat. The president, Lisa, took me on a great driving tour of the campus to see the Ohio Union, football stadium, older dorms and even a building named after an alumna of Rho Chapter.

Rho's house after the first snow of the season

The morning I met with Sorority and Fraternity Life staff, I got to the Union early explore a bit. It is newly redone and everything about it is gorgeous. I visited the apparel store and grabbed coffee at Espress-OH, and still had time to wander around looking at the cool ways school pride was displayed.

the newly renovated Ohio Union

Of course I tried some good food while in Columbus. Lisa brought me to a favorite called Northstar Cafe, where we had egg sandwiches on their delicious biscuits. We also tried Nida's Thai on High with their adviser Jamie.

Brutus Buckeye

While I was with the chapter, I attended an eboard meeting and got to meet all their newly elected officers as well. I also did a couple recruitment workshops with them to get ready for January. On Wednesday night I went to their roller skating sisterhood event at Skate Zone 71. I was brave and tried roller skating but it was not too successful. The best part was that I didn't fall! But that's probably because I didn't go very far.

My first time on roller skates 

Post title from: Columbus by Mary Black

City of Plattsburgh

Phi Tau, SUNY Plattsburgh

My flight from Boston to Plattsburgh was certainly interesting and a first for me. I flew Peninsula Air (yeah, I never heard of it either) because it is only the line that flies into Plattsburgh International Airport. That name is also deceiving because the airport is far from a large, international airport one may associate with it. The fact that it is twenty minutes from Canada could have something to do with it. But in any case, it was the most empty plane I've ever flown on. I had been on a plane that small before but this flight to Plattsburgh (and the one back to Boston) only had one third of the maximum passengers. And when I arrived at the Plattsburgh airport I discovered why. It is literally two rooms with one tiny luggage belt, which they didn't even use. Someone brought my check bag out to me, after I panicked that it wasn't there, of course. My trip back through the airport was even more interesting because I had to ring a belt for service to check my suitcase and when the young man came out to help me the first thing he said was, "You must be Ms. Cotton." They also did not open the one security check point until one hour prior to my flights' departure; this was because my flight was the only one leaving from the airport that day!


Nikki and I at the Plattsburgh hockey game

Despite the unusual flying experiences, I had a great time with the ladies of the Phi Tau Chapter. Nikki, the President, was fabulous and had everything I could have needed. My first night on campus we went to a fraternity's haunted house, which were were both absolutely terrified of. I also got to meet most of their new members and hang out in the student center with a lot of different sisters. They took me to the hockey season opener, which was so fun. A bunch of us went together and we ended having great seats by the angry parents of the opposing team and right in front of where most of the fights happened.

On Saturday morning before I left, Nikki took me to this great bagel place downtown called Baxter's Bagels. After that, we met up with a bunch of sisters at the mall to pass out breast cancer awareness ribbons and take donations for Sharsheret, one of ΑΕΦ's two national philanthropies. So many people were willing to donate and there were even a few who came up to talk to us at the table about what Sharsheret does. I had a lot of fun hanging out with sisters and new members that morning before I left. They were all so happy and welcoming!


Phi Tau Chapter raising awareness for Sharsheret
Post title from: City of Plattsburgh by Stan Ransom- The Connecticut Pedler. Apparently there is a lot of folk music about upstate New York, especially where there were famous war battles.

My Buffalo Girl

Beta Gamma, SUNY Buffalo State

It was the week of Halloween so I was getting excited for such a fun holiday, and when I arrived in Buffalo, I was met with a decorated airport. That was a great start to my visit! Another great part of my arrival was that Cheyenne, one of the other TECs, came to pick me up from the airport! I was very excited to visit Buffalo because it's Cheyenne's chapter and she was on her week off, so she was home in in the city.

Airport decorated for Halloween

The first night I was there, Beta Gamma had a pumpkin carving sisterhood event. I was very excited for this, since I clearly love Halloween. They had enough little pumpkins for everyone to carve one and some girls did some very creative things, like a giraffe head and Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. I went with ΑΕΦ and it was a little bit difficult to make sure the middle of the A and Φ didn't fall out. I worked on it carefully with a steak knife and it came out right. I was so proud of my pumkin and I asked the woman I was staying with to put it out with her jack-o-lantern. 

My ΑΕΦ pumpkin

For lunch that day Cheyenne took me to her favorite wing place, Duff's. I was excited to eat wings in Buffalo because it seems like something you just have to do. She got medium hot, which is way too hot for me, but she also puts hot sauce on everything. The wings were delicious and lunch was such a great time to catch up with her about traveling and life in general.

I also got to spend time with some of the seniors at the house Cheyenne used to live in. I had a lot of fun getting to know them and hanging out together.

Molly, me, Cheyenne, Jen

On Wednesday morning, before I left, Cheyenne brought me to a great place for brunch. Pano's is on the main Elmwood Street strip of restaurants and bars, so it's a very cute area. I had French toast and eggs, which were great and I had such a nice time doing some final catching up with Cheyenne!

Post title from: My Buffalo Girl by Mark "Buc" Williams. All of the song lyrics talk about places in Buffalo and things that I saw. If you've ever been to Buffalo, look it up.

Good Morning Baltimore

Colony, Towson University

Another first for me, Baltimore! I had only driven through on a family road trip before so I was excited to see the area. Unfortunately my visit was too short to really sight see downtown or get the chance to try Baltimore crab. I also didn't get to see Liz at Towson because my visit was over the weekend. (Liz was in the HESA program at UConn and advised Alpha Xi for those two years. Now she works in student programming at Towson!) These will be on the top of my to-do list if I go back to Towson next semester.

Some of the colony at ΣΑΕ's event

What I did get the chance to do was attend some other orgs' events and watch halloween movies! When I arrived on campus we headed right to ΣAE's closing ceremony for Paddy Murphy. I had seen it at UConn one year so I actually wasn't surprised by the men carrying a yellow and purple coffin. I also attended ΦΜ's Lion King pageant with the Towson colony. It was entertaining to see the male contestants get up on stage but pageants always get a little inappropriate, and the AEΦs were very good about recognizing this. My favorite activity with them was definitely their Halloween movie sisterhood event. We watched Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge. I hadn't seen these Disney channel original movies in years and I'm not a fan of scary movies, so they were perfect to get in the Halloween spirit!

Something I didn't know before was that Johns Hopkins is so close to Towson. A friend from UConn is a consultant for ΚΑΘ and is working on expansion there all semester so I got to have dinner with her and her colleague! It was great to spend time with other consultants again and it was so fun to catch up with Aubrey about our experiences and how weird it is to be UConn alumnae. We tried a rotating sushi place called Kyodai in Towson for dinner. It was the second time I had been to a place like it but the fisrt time I actually ate from the conveyer belt. We were all pretty adventurous and the servers were all happy to point out what things were on the belt. It was very good and I liked that each plate only had a few pieces so you could try more things.

Huge pumkin pancake

The next morning a couple of the women I stayed with took me to their favorite breakfast place, First Watch Daytime Cafe. It was pretty busy because it was brunch time on a Sunday but they assured me it was worth it, and it definitely was! I order the seasonal special, the pumpkin pancake breakfast. The pancake was so good. I wish I knew somewhere at home where I could get such good pumpkin pancakes, but then again, trying the local food is one of the best parts about traveling!

Post title from: Good Morning Baltimore from the Hairspray soundtrack. I can sing the entire soundtrack and I love the show/movie but now I know how accurate its depiction of Baltimore is.

American Woman

Epsilon Theta, American University

I really enjoyed getting to visit AU after visitng GW because, even though they are in the same city, the campuses are so different. AU is so pretty and is actually a campus in the city. It has all the benefits of DC, like the public transportation and restauraunts, but with the feeling of being on a campus. 

Quad in the middle of campus

It seemed like everyone at American was so well dressed all the time. Many of these students intern all day and take block classes at night, and yet I don't think I saw more than one person in sweatpants ever.

I spent Founders' Day on campus and it was great to see all the women around dressed up proudly wearing their badges all day! They held a RAD self-defense class in the evening and took part in a community service event in honor of Founders' Day after I had left. 

While I was at American I got to meet up with two different Alpha Xi sisters from UConn that are now living in DC. I met Elyssa at Kramer's Bookstore & Cafe in Dupont Circle for dessert and had a great peanut butter pie. The next night I met Kait at Circa in Dupont Circle for dinner, where I had the mushroom ravioli (so good!). It was great to catch up with them and hear about life in DC!

Both times I went to Dupont Cirle I took the metro bus because it goes right down Massachusetts Ave from AU to Dupont. The first night I somehow got it down and it was pretty easy to take the bus. But when I was going for dinner the next evening taking the bus a nightmare. I was planning to take an early bus to get there in plenty of time and apparently I missed that one because I had to wait another 15 minutes for the next bus. That would have been fine since I planned to be early but as it happened, the next three buses to come by were out of service. By the time I finally made it on a bus and sat through all the traffic, I was so late. I'm going to say it was because of rush hour but it was really just bizarre to me. Thank goodness Kait was understanding! I learned from her that walking places is much more reliable, even though it may take longer. 

Shower curtain map of the DC Metro

The women I stayed with were so fabulous! They offered me pancakes and hung up my coat for me, and even gave me my own key to get in. They had this great map up on the wall that I studied to try to get a feel for where everything was in DC.

Post title from: American Woman by Lenny Kravitz

DC Chillin

Alpha Gamma, George Washington University

I was super excited to visit DC because of all the cool things to do around GWU! I had gotten to see some of the city when I lobbied with the FSPAC in April but I had more opportunity and freedom to explore this time. 

Alpha Epsilon Phi townhouse

The chapter has a townhouse in the middle of "campus" near a bunch of other fraternities and sororities. It seemed so city to have an actual townhouse (I always describe Husky Village as townhouses) and the inside was decoraded so well! It was very modern and cute, but with AEPhi in mind beause they had lots of green and giraffes. This is where some of the executive board lives and is also where I stayed during my visit.

Living room in GW's townhouse 

During my time between meetings I took the chance to explore around the monuments and Georgetown. I had seen the monuments before but decided to do the whole loop down from the Capital to Lincoln. Its a much longer walk than it seems but it was such a nice day so I enjoyed the exercise.

I had never been to Georgetown so I was really looking forward to it! I got to do a little shopping (a.k.a. pick out some warmer apparel for this chilly weather) and try Georgetown Cupcakes.

Me in front of the Capital building

Post title from: Chillin by Wale

Going to Maryland

Alpha Mu, University of Maryland

I was excited to visit UMD because I've known a bunch of people who went there and the campus culture seemed exciting. I got to stay in the AEPhi house on Fraternity Row and was with the chapter for their fall philanthropy event and parents' brunch.

Alpha Epsilon Phi house

Their philanthropy event was the 4th annual Wingman competition, where people eat chicken wings as fast as they can in an effort to become the Wing Queen and the Wingman. The chapter had all the wings donated and had shirts made for eat competitor. The event marked the beginning of parents weekend, so lots of parents joined the crowd and some even joined in the parents round at the end. It was a very successful event with a great turnout. 

One of the sorority rounds at Wingman

The weather was gorgeous while I was at UMD. One day it got all the way up to 75 but the other days were nice and finally felt like fall! Campus was beautiful and students were out everywhere enjoying the sunshine. I took a walk the long way through campus to get more of a feel for te school and saw so much pretty scenery.

Post title from: Going to Maryland by The Mountain Goats

Meet Virgina

Beta Theta, Virginia Commonwealth University

My visit to VCU was the first time I actually stayed in Virgina, as opposed to just driving though. Richmond seemed pretty cool, with lots of things to do around the area. I spent most of my time on campus, either in the library Starbucks or the student center. Most of the time I set up camp in Starbucks to meet women there and do work the rest of the day. Since it was such a short visit, I didn't get much of a chance to explore the area, but the streets right on the edge of campus had lots of different food options that were good to try.

One of my favorite things when I travel is meeting up with other consultants. At VCU I had lunch with two! One day I met a Lamda Chi Alpha consultant and the next day I got to meet up with an AEPi that I knew from FEA Field Staff. I think making those connections with other people on the road is so important becasuse it reminds me how many other people are sharing the same experiences.

This post's title comes from the Train song Meet Virginia. Not so creative, but I'm a fan of Train and it was my first time in Virginia.

A little bit of Florida

Phi Eta, Jacksonville University

I completed the Florida trio by visiting Jacksonville! I got to drive from Gainesville which was fun, but also gave me a very of some very country roads. But I listened to the country music stations the whole way there, which I loved. I didn't know going into it, but Jacksonville is in a pretty country area as well. When I asked one of the sisters her response was that Jacksonville is a "city full of county people," which I came to realize was a perfect description.

The Phi Eta sisters were actually from all over, so I enjoyed hearing about different part of the country and how they've adapted to northern Florida. There were a few New Yorkers and even one woman from CT! 

Mural in the AEPhi hall

On my last day visiting Jacksonville, we participated in a community service project with the Sigma Chi chapter at the zoo. We all thought we would be picking up trash and cleaning up, but instead we were asked to prime and paint the big room they use for field trips and birthday parties. One of the walls was green with giraffes painted on it so covering that up was sad for the phis. 

Getting ready to paint at the Jacksonville Zoo

Lucky for us, after we volunteered, the zoo staff let us in to the zoo as a thank you for our painting work. We were all so excited to see different animals but I was most excited for the giraffes. JU calles them by the Spanish word for giraffe but I still call them all Genny! 

When they brought me back to the airport, I saw that the lightpost flags were alternating with the UF Gator and the Georgia G. On the bottom each flag it said FLGA.org for the Florida/Georgia line. So I think you all can guess which artisit I chose my blog title from... Florida Georgia Line! This worked so perfectly because Jacksonville is right at the top of Florida about 15 minutes from the Georgia line AND it's a very country area. I chose the song Country in My Soul and the whole line is "A little bit of Florida, a little bit of Georgia, and whole lotta country in my soul." 

I really loved my little vacation to Florida but by the end I was definietly ready for some cooler weather. Now I'm headed north where I'm excited for the changing leaves!

Give a cheer for the Orange and the Blue

Alpha Tau, University of Florida

Visiting UF was a very cool experience! An SEC school with so much spirit and an old chapter with lots of their own traditions. I got to stay in their house in the housemother's suite and I could literally get anything I could need without leaving. One of the things I loved about the house was that the halls were lined with old composites from the 70s and 80s. I was excited to look at them all and find Sami's (my pledge siter from UConn) mom and aunt. I thought it was so cool that I found the composite they are both on!

I also got to see Julie Bunson while at UF! She is a former AEPhi TEC that is now there for grad school in higher education and student affairs (the program I want to do as well!). It was fun to connect while I was in town and to catch up with her. 

As I'm sure many of you know, UF has so much school pride. Everything was blue and orange and they are all huge football fans. So much so that the Phis and many other students were roadtripping to Louisiana to go to the LSU game. As fun as that would be, a 12 hour bus ride in the middle of the night does not sound ideal. But I dedicated the title of this post to all the UF spirit by using a line from their fight song.

California here we come

Beta Kappa, University of California Irvine

This post is a little late because I had this week off at home. It took me a while to get back on Eastern Time but now I'm finally readjusted. Here's all about my visit to UCI last week!

This trip was another big one for me. It was my first time to California, which brought so many other firsts along with it. The one I anticipated the most was going to the beach and seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time! I got to go twice while I was in Southern California. Early in the week I met up with an AEPi consultant and he brought me to see Newport Beach, where a lot of Irvine students rent houses right on the ocean. He was staying there with some brothers there and had been down that beach a few times so he was able to point out some cool spots. The beach was so pretty and the sun was beautiful over the ocean in the late afternoon.

View from the Newport Beach pier

The second time I went to the ocean was at Laguna Beach! The president, Morgan, planned a fun little trip out to Laguna Beach, where we all got salt water taffy, walked in the sand and had dinner right across from the beach. It was already dark when we got there but it was still really pretty and it was a cool view to see all the lights of the retaurants and shops lining the beach. The thing I still cannot get over is the view of mountains and the ocean together. We had to drive through some mountains to get from Irvine to Laguna and from the beach there was such a pretty view of the mountains. When the ladies asked me about mountains at home and I explain how different it was they seemed surprised, being so used to the gorgeous scenery.

My first that people seemed the most excited about for me was trying In-N-Out. I had the cheeseburger and fry combo, which was really good. It definilty met my expectations and I even went a second time while I was there. I didn't go for anything too adventurous or from the secret menu but I saw lots of people with animal style fries, so I feel like I got the experience without the added calories.

Shelby, Jillian, Emily, Taylor and I all ready to table

Another food first was trying mango. It was totally by accident and I'm not sure that I really love it. One morning at the on-campus Starbucks (best thing ever), I got a fruit cup. After eating the berries and melon on top, I got to yellow chunks that I know were not pineapple. I enjoy trying new foods so it wasn't a bad surprise, just an unexpected one. Who knew you could get mango at Starbucks? Definitely no one from the Northeast.

The Starbucks was a fully operating location, which I haven't seen too much on campuses. They were super busy everytime I was there but they worked efficiently to get people moving, which was nice. Starbucks was a great place to people watch and get work done. And outside in front they had tables with umbrellas, which was also a nice place to do work, until my iPad overheated and I was forced to move in side. But when I was out there I got to see a hummingbird about 3 feet away from me. It was so little and cute and I had never seen one, so I can add that to the list of firsts!

I also had the chance to take a little shopping excursion early in the week. So I looked up cool places and found this one called Fashion Island in Newport Beach. It seemed really nice and I was even more impressed when I got there. It was a gorgeous day and the scenery was just beautiful. I got to do a little shopping and I found the only Vineyard Vines store on the entire west coast, so that pretty much made my day.

View of the ocean from Fashion Island

Another, more obvious, change from New England is the weather. In late September at school I'd be in pants and cardigans by now, as the tempuratures dropped into the low sixties. But in Southern California it was still full-on summer. It was in the mid 80s and even got up to 90 one day. I was not prepared for such heat and found myself hot all the time. I cherished the few instances where I was caught in a super air conditioned placed and started to shiver.

The other part of the weather situation that mistified me was the way people dressed for it. I am all about dressing for the weather and in the fall that usually means layers so I can adjust to the tempurature. But apprently in So Cal everyone thought the gorgeous 75 degree days were fall so they broke out pants, sweaters, and even boots. Then there was me in a sleeveless dress embracing the breeze and the beautiful day. I still will never understand how someone can wear pants and long sleeves when its 75 degrees and sunny and not die outside.

Beta Kappa ladies still excited after 10 rounds of recruitment

I really felt like a tourist on this visit but it was all in the midst of Beta Kappa's recruitment time. It was a week packed full of AEPhi fun, and a lot of hard work too. We tabled at the Anteater Involvement Fair (yes, their mascot is the anteater), tabled by the student center and gave 10 presentations about the chapter to PNMs. The women of Beta Kappa impressed me so much and did so much great work during pre-recruitment week and the first round of formal recuitment. They are now starting the second week of the quarter and are in full swing with COB. I know they are doing a fabulous job because their new advisor, Jillian, is so dedicated to supporting them and has been a great match for the chapter at Irvine.

Sun setting in Newport Beach 

I know this is getting long, but I have a short explaination of the title! California by Phantom Planet is the song that "California here we come" is from. For anyone who isn't obsessed with The OC or never watched reruns on The Soap Net, it is the theme song. This was the perfect line for me to use because I was coming to California for the first time. And not just anywhere in California, but Orange County to be exact!

I'm in Pittsburgh and it's rainin'

Nu, University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh was another quick visit where I got to explore the campus area. And I definitely broke in my Sperry's in the process. It is way more of a city school than I realized so that means you walk everywhere and can find almost any kind of food on or right around campus. I went to Panera and Dunkin a lot because they're my favorites, but I also tried a place called Hello Bistro, which did build your own salads with as many toppings as you want. I wish they had this chain in New England because it was such a good deal with so many options. I also had my first pumpkin bagel of the season while in Pittsburgh because it finally began to feel like fall.

I got to stay in AEPhi's suite in the dorm building that only houses sororities. I had never seen a set up like this so I was excited to see it. Each floor is a different sorority's to decorate the way they want, hold events in, and house 15 women. They are also allowed to paint walls in the stair well of their floor so going down the stairs in the building was a cool experience.

Sorority suites

I had a beautiful day to explore the lower campus area. The buildings in that part of campus are so pretty and there is a park right across from the Student Union, which is next to the suites. Carnige Melon is also in that area of Pittsburgh and I accidentally ended up on the edge of their campus on my long walk. 

Suite's stair well 

Formal recruitment was during most of my visit. I was there for the two nights of round 1 and the day of round 2. For round 1 the suite was decked out in green and white and we all wore black letters (my Alpha Xi standards came in handy for that). Round 2 was a Woodstock theme so we all got the red v-necks and wore converse, which was a nice change from heels. The decorations for Wookstock were so much fun because they were bright peace signs, tie dye and lots of flowers. I got to serve water and lemonade each day, which was a throw back to Michigan. At this point I could probably pour plastic cups of water and lemonade competitively. 

Sophomores ready for round 2

Something I learned towards the end of my visit is that expectations can really shape a visit. I had a lot of comunication with the support team and advisors before this visit, more than any of my visits so far. And I think I've learned that creating an expectation in my mind is not the best thing to do because I may look for ways for women to fill them without looking outside of it. I think knowing what to expect can sometimes be a good thing but I also enjoy meeting women for the first time and figuring out some of it on my own. It is a fine balance that I am certainly still working on.

On a different note, you may (or may not) have noticed that the title of this post is a line from a song. The song is called I'm in Pittsburgh (And It's Raining). I didn't have many Pittsburgh song options but I liked this one because it downpoured during recruitment on my last day. My goal for the rest of my posts is to name each one after song lyrics related to my visit! This will probably take some creativity and a lot of Google searching but lots of TV shows do things like this for episode titles so I thought it would be cool.

Cheyenne's Favorite Place

Delta, Adelphi University

I spent a short two days in Garden City, NY, which is in Long Island. I was excited to visit because Long Island is Cheyenne's favorite place! Though I didn't get a chance to exlpore farther than campus, I did have a nice airport experience at JFK with Baked by Melissa cupcakes.

At Adelphi I got to attend Delta Chapter's informational session with over 30 potential members. It was such a successful event for them and it was great to see them so excited about it. I stayed with some sisters in one on the newest dorms, which was really nice inside. They were so accommodating and Sandra even got up to take to breakfast each morning. I spent most of both days in the University Center catching up on work in between meeting with sisters. The cafe brewed Starbucks coffee so I was all set to move in. 

Even though my visit was so short, I had a great time getting to know the Delta Chapter (and Jess's roommate Meghan!) I am excited to see their new member class and how the semester goes for them!

Back to Ann Arbor

Pi, University of Michigan

This week I had the unique experience of getting to return to a chapter I had already visited. When I got to Ann Arbor I already knew how to get into the AEΦ house, where Starbucks was, and a lot about the women. This was so fun because it made me feel at home with the Pi chapter.

Another very unique part about this visit is that I got to spend the whole visit with Cheyenne too! Michigan got two TECs for formal recruitment so Cheyenne and I got to be roomies for the week and do all of the errands, exploring and set-up together. We had lots of things to pick up, like all the apple juice and Timbits (Tim Horton's version of the Munchkin), folding chairs and lots of paper goods. There was quite a lot to do but Cheyenne made it much more fun!

Cheyenne with all the apple juice at Costco

With it being the first week of formal recruitment, we also got very little sleep. That caused a lot of late night eating and some very crazy moments. I got to experience the Pizza House cheesy bread, which was delicious, as well as two of Ann Arbor's breakfast places. At Angelo's we sat in the famous booth from Pursuit of Jappiness and at 7am before my flight home, we got lost trying to find Northside Grill. All the food and lack of sleep made for some very memorable late nights with the ladies of Pi chapter. Dancing and singing was always a welcomed option and there was never a dull moment.

Kick-line dancing in the foyer after Day 1, Set 2 was completed 

Being at Michigan for recruitment showed me that is possible, with a lot of coffee, to function on 4 hours of sleep. More importantly, it reminded me that women with determination and hard work can accomplish anything. These women have to work three times as hard during recruitment than any other chapter on campus and they have fun doing it. That isn't to say hard work is always fun, but being able to combine the two makes recruitment more enjoyable for the Pi chapter and I loved experiencing that feeling with them!