School's Out For the Summer

Year one of traveling is done! I am very excited to be home for the summer but it is definitely weird to be home for more than a week and have so much time on my hands. I have found plenty of things to keep me busy for the past week (like going down to UConn for Senior Sendoff and having dinner with Talia, Lynna and Leslie!) but I have also had lots of time to think about my first year on the road and to reflect on my experiences. I've learned so much about myself this year and it is great to think about all the amazing chapters I worked with, and hopefully made an impact on!

I made a little list that briefly sums up my year:

39 visits
30 schools
17 states (+Washington DC)
11 chapter houses
6 philanthropy events

And I made an even shorter one for some of the fun stuff I did:

8+ sushi restaurants
7 shopping malls
5 (California) beaches
1 urgent care visit

Check out the map I made from cork board at the beginning of the year! It now has 30 pins in it representing all the AEPhi chapters I have visited. I am very excited to see what next year will bring and which pins I will get to add!

Thank you for following my travels all year!! Happy summer!



School's Out by Alice Cooper

Down San Diego Way

Epsilon Nu, San Diego State University

SDSU was my last visit of the year! I was pretty excited to come back to a place I already knew so well for my last one, and the fact that it was only a drive from UCSD was a plus too! It was a pretty short visit because it was the week before finals, since they are on the semester schedule, unlike all our other west coast chapters.

The heat wave that started while I was at UC San Diego continued on for the rest of my time there. But it was even hotter at SDSU because we didn't have the ocean breeze. I really enjoyed wearing tank tops and shorts; getting tan just from sitting out for a few minutes; and that there was no humidity. But that weather comes with a price: I could not sit outside for more than twenty minutes without feeling like I needed a shower. That is to say I sweat a lot, just from sitting. But it was beautiful out and I didn't let that bother me!

The highlight of this visit was definitely dinner on Friday. Rebecca and her roommate, Hannah, took me to this tiny hole in the wall place called Sushi Diner. The whole inside is Bob Marley themed and there are only about ten tables, but it was well worth the wait! I created my own roll for the first time ever (seen below) and we all ate so much sushi. Our server definitely knew Rebecca and Hannah from how much they come to eat and she made a few jokes about it so we had a lot of laughs over diner.

On my flight out of San Diego, the pilot pointed out that we were flying over the Grand Canyon. I didn't take a picture over the man next to me be it was such a cool view. That is another place I want to visit in my lifetime, but I bet that's a view they don't show you often!


Rosalita by Bruce Springsteen

All Over La Jolla

Beta Eta, University of California San Diego

I had visited UCSD for one evening back in February during a visit with SDSU so I was excited to have a few familiar faces. It was a fun visit and I even had a few more firsts!

One of the fun things I did was attend Kappa Karnival. AEPhi's booth was hair-wraps, which they did for quite a few girls. I thought it was a great idea for a booth because even the Kappa's wanted hair-wraps. It was fun to see them all get involved and to have the Kappa women organize the booth and help us out.

On Sunday the chapter held their annual parents brunch. It was on campus in a great little space and it was catered with food from Whole Foods- great bagels and other breakfast foods. It was also a beautiful day outside and a great excuse to wear the Lilly Pulitzer dress I had packed!

Eliza V-Neck T-Shirt Dress in "A Little Tipsy"

Hannah, the chapter president, took me to see the Glider Point one evening. The campus is right on the Pacific in La Jolla and the glider point is a cliff that drops down to the water where people paraglide and hang glide. It was really cool to sit and watch these things take off and fly around. I also got to see the sun set over the ocean, which is not something I see often, being from the east coast.

Another first on this visit was trying udon noodles. They are the big spherical noodles in Japanese soup, which usually also has a lot of tofu. I am not a huge fan of tofu but I really like Vietnamese soup, pho, so when Hannah ordered it I decided to try it as well. The broth was similar to pho so I ended up eating most of the noodles and broth and leaving all the tofu in the bowl. I'm glad I tried something new but pho is still way better in my books!

A first I was hesitant and excited for at the same time was line dancing. When Hannah asked if I wanted to go line dancing with some sisters I was a little intimidated because I'm not a good dancer nor do I pick things up quickly (and Hannah is both) but I decided to give it a try- why not! I really like country music so I knew at the least that would be a good part. The place was not very crowded and there were definitely quite a few people that struck me as regulars, since they seemed to know every choreographed dance and how to two-step. Sarah knew a lot of the dances and Hannah seemed to have some sort of idea about a least a handful of them. I danced for two different line dances but that was about all I could handle. But I did have a great time watching the dancing and singing a long to some country music!

On campus every Tuesday there is a farmers market, full of ethnic food stands and assorted retailers. On Tuesday Natalie took me to lunch there and we both had burritos from the Mexican vendor. It was really good and the walkway was full of students and staff also enjoying the market.

On my last day we went to a restaurant on campus, call the Bistro. It was a very nice-looking, free standing place that was mainly a sushi bar, but also had a menu of other items. The thing that amazed me was that they could use dining dollars at such a nice restaurant. It was a delicious meal and a great way to end my visit!


Surfin' USA by the Beach Boys