We Can Move To Delaware

Phi Chi, University of Delaware

I was very excited to return to Newark to visit the ladies of the Phi Chi Chapter! I came for an exciting week and got to go back to all my favorite AEPhi spots on Main Street.

I got to attend a couple of Airband practices and see all the women practice their intense choreographed dances for the big Greek Week competition the following week. I also got to see Sigma Kappa's Love Duets, their annual philanthropy where a sorority woman and fraternity man get on stage and sing a duet. It was so fun to see all the different pairs and find out who could really sing. The event had a huge turnout and the audience really got into it. I also went to the Greek Council meeting with Erika, the AEPhi president. I got to experience the long elections process with her and I actually enjoyed seeing all the men and women talk about their passion for the positions because it reminded me of my Panhellenic experiences.

It wouldn't be a complete visit without some great food. AEPhi was also having restaurant fundraisers for the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric Aids Foundation (EGPAF) all week leading up to their annual event so I made sure to stop into those. My first stop was Newark Deli & Bagels (NDB), where I got a red bagel to benefit EGPAF and AIDS awarness and research. The tuna salad was fabulous and I obviously enjoyed the bagel. I also made a trip to Central Perk, the local cafe known for sandwiches and blended coffee. I tried the blended iced coffee on my last visit and was so excited to get it again. And of course a froyo run had to happen that week. Yogoberry is a really good local shop and they had some great new flavors to try!

The last day of my visit was Phi Chi's annual event, Phi Hoops. The fraternities play an intricate bracket of 3-on-3 games until one wins in the end. It was a beautiful day outside so it was really fun to be out cheering on different teams and enjoying spending time with the AEPhi ladies. Below is a picture of me and my roomies from where I stayed in the Courtyard apartments during my visit!

I had an overall fabulous time all week long. I feel like my meetings were so successful and I was really able to help the officers brainstorm some new and exciting changes! I also got along so well with the ladies in the Courtyards and felt like just another roommate. I love them and they were all so great to me! When it came time, I didn't want to leave and was sad to say goodbye!

Delaware by Wesley Jensen

The Sky's California Blue

Beta Iota, Stanford University

My first day at Stanford I got to explore the campus, watch UConn win the final four game and have dinner made for me by Kate, the Stanford president! It was a great day for all those reasons and the weather was beautiful for wandering around Stanford and Palo Alto.

During my visit I stayed with Kate and her roommate Emily, who is also in AEPhi. They live on campus in a dorm called Murray House (pictured below). When they told me it is not a very desirable dorm or location I was shocked because it is close to the gym and both student unions, plus it is so pretty! The building is fairly small as dorms go and is actually set up similarly to a sorority house, in the sense that everyone knows each other and the kitchen staff serves dinner in the kitchen Sunday through Thursday. Something I personally liked was the RAs decorated the building with a How I "Murray'd" Your Mother theme. I thought it was pretty clever and obviously I liked seeing all the quotes and cast pictures around the hallways. 

One place I really liked on campus was the Coupa Cafe. It is an outdoor cafe with a huge menu of breakfast, sandwiches, pastries, teas and coffees. Everything I had from there was great but the set-up of the outdoor tables is what really made it for me. I like to sit out in the sun when the weather is nice, plus the little cafe tables gave it a very European feel. I don't know exactly what it was but at some points while sitting out there I had a weird feeling that I was in a Parisian cafe. I heard that San Fransisco and the Bay Area can sometimes have that European feeling so I'm going to go with that.

There was some good shopping right near by too. There is the Stanford Shopping Center right on the edge of campus, which has a Drybar, SoulCycle, Sprinkles Cupcakes, JCrew, etc. Then there is the Town & Country Village, a smaller shopping center with a lot of restaurants and a Trader Joes. Downtown Palo Alto was also a great place to explore when I had the time to wander a little more. I had a great time shopping and window shopping with some of my free time throughout the week!

I also found a few great places to eat during my visit to Stanford. I was told I had to go to CoHo, which is a cafe in the Tressider Memorial Union. I ended up having the same caprese panini twice because it was that good. I also had a great pesto pizza at Howie's in the Town & Country Village. I really love ice cream when it's hot out and I found two different places. Scoop is a little micro-creamery with a shop downtown that makes some interesting flavors and Tin Pot Creamery is in the Town & Country Village and had a line out the door so I knew I needed to try it. Both were great!

The above picture is the quintessential image of Stanford. In the middle you can see the top of Memorial Church and the paths lead out to Palm Drive, the road that is lined by palm trees and connects the beginning of campus to downtown Palo Alto. It is so pretty and my pictures don't even do it justice. Additionally, a major fact about the campus is that EVERYONE bikes. People literally bike everywhere on and around campus. The amount of bike racks was actually insane to me and they were always full. Kate often had a hard time finding a spot to lock up her bike at Murray when we came back late because there were already dozens of bikes there.

Formal recruitment finally began right at the end of my visit. I spent Friday doing last minute recruitment errands with the ladies and one of the places we went was Party City. I don't know if this is the same chain we have in the Northeast but this place was nuts. It had absolutley everything you could ever want or need for a party, plus so much more. I had a great time seeing all the crazy things and imagining all the great parties I could host!

That evening went well with Open House round and after we had cleaned up and were getting ready to vote, people started breaking out the snacks. I brought out a bag of Munchies (Maya's and my favorite cheesy late-night snack) and somehow it got passed around and most of the chapter had some. I don't really know how it happened but I though it was really funny because by the time the bag made it back it was empty. People also asked me after what it was so apparently I introduced Stanford AEPhi to their new favorite snack!

Palo Alto by Radiohead

I Wish They All Could Be California Girls

Beta Kappa, University of California Irvine

This was my seond visit to UC Irvine so I was excited to see some familiar faces and to already know about all the special Irvine Greek Life norms. This week was the first week of Spring quarter so it was informal recruitment time again!

I got to attend two recruitmnt events. The first was to a place called Color Me Mine, which is a west coast chain of paint your own pottery studios. Above is the seder plate I painted for the chapter! The other event was to a cafe in Santa Ana called The Gypsy Den, which had a huge assortment of coffees, teas, and desserts. Below is a picture of the Mayan mocha I had there.

I also did some more exploring around Irvine and Orange County. I made my way to the Irvine Spectrum Center, a nice outdoor mall. It was a pretty large place, with lots of good stores and a ferris wheel in the middle. The strung lights were also a nice touch, that I thought would also look great at night.

On Friday I attended Smooze and Shmear with a bunch of AEPhis. It is a weekly event that HIllel puts on for students to come have bagels, orange juice and other snacks. I also went to Shabbat dinner with them that evening at the Chabad house.

A random fact I learned on my plane ride out is that at John Wayne Airport it is normal for planes to have a muffler so that the surrounding Orange County neighborhoods are not disrupted by the the loud noises of planes taking off and landing.

California Girls by the Beach Boys

I'd Rather Be In Tucson

Alpha Lambda, University of Arizona

During my visit to U of A I used a lot of my free time to explore the local area, be outside in the hot sun, and watch NCAA basketball.

I got in on a Friday and had a lot of free time over the weekend. I spent the better part of a day out baking in the sun on a lounge chair in AEPhi's courtyard. The courtyard was beautiful in the 85 degree weather and you can in the picture above that the space is pretty open but also private. It was a great place to soak up the sun (in the middle of March) while to girls went off to pool parties.

On Saturday I wandered around University Blouvard, the main street right off of campus, which is lined with restaurants, bars and shops. It was a beautiful day and it was also the day of UA's elite eight game in the NCAA tournament, so the bars and restaurants were filled with roudy fans decked out in UA apparel. Many people even spilled out into the sidewalks, making it a challenge at time just to walk down the street. When I stopped into CVS there were even a couple of drunk guys buying alcohol (which to me is still weird because you can't buy alcohol at grocery or convenience stores in Mass). After I got what I needed I headed back to the AEPhi house, where I watched the Arizona game with a group of women. A few of them got super into it and were very upset when they lost to Wisconsin but I was also unhappy because I had them going to the final four in my bracket. It was a lot of fun though to watch one of my favorite sports with people that really cared about the game!

The next day we had recruitment practice with PC13 during part of UConn's elite eight game so I streamed the first half on my iPad app and then was checking the play-by-play updates during breaks. I actually freaked out in front of all the freshmen when I saw UConn had won, which isn't something I would usually do around people.

That night I hung around the house with a bunch of the gals. It was so nice to hear funny stories from them and just get to know them better. Monday was the series finale of How I Met Your Mother and I was super excited that there was a group of sisters as into the show as I am. We had a viewing party with a strictly enforced no talking rule. It was a really great finale and we were all very invested in it. I'm not embarassed to admit that I cried at the end, and I wasn't the only one. It was a huge culmination of a nine-year show so I wasn't really shocked by all of the emotions in the room. And it was so nice to be able to bond over our love for HIMYM!

I'd Rather Be In Tucson by Jean Chastain