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.