Little City of Albany

Eta, University at Albany

For my visit to Albany I got to drive out from Boston, instead of my usual flying. After a nice Thanksgiving break, I picked up a rental car and drove straight across Massachusetts and into New York for my last chapter visit of 2014. Albany isn't too far from the Mass border and the route is basically one highway so I enjoyed the mini road trip!

It was a pretty quiet visit. I had meetings and caught up on a lot of work from before the holiday. All the women live downtown so I did not spend much time on campus. When I finally got to explore the Campus Center, I found it was a lot bigger than I expected. There is also a cool fountain outside the Campus Center, but it was turned off for the winter.

The last night I was there, the fire alarm in the apartment I was staying at was going off and couldn't be turned off. They ended up calling the fire department to take care of it and five men showed up in full gear. Since it didn't seem serious, the women were all snap chatting it. They finally got it figured out around 2AM but it was all pretty funny.

After a nice meeting with the director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, I hit the road for my three hour trip home. I was happy to have an easy drive on the empty road because it was a great time play my favorite music and belt it out. I also spent some time reflecting on the ending semester. I cannot believe how quickly this fall passed by! It feels like fall recruitment season just ended and now it's time to begin planning for those winter recruitment visits. There were so many great parts of this fall and I am so looking forward to what the spring semester has in store! But first, I'm ready for a nice break and spending the holidays with family and friends.

Good luck on finals, all, and happy winter break!


O Albany We Hope by We are Jeneric

Look At Miss Ohio

Rho, Ohio State University

I was excited to return to OSU and catch up with the executive board as their term comes to an end. Just like at IU, I had visited Ohio State for recruitment in January and now they have elected a new eboard- time really flies! I was also looking forward to seeing their new addition. You can't see it in the above photo, but there is a new piece on the side where they blew out the kitchen wall and expanded to make a new chapter room. The outside of it is just about done and it looks like there will be a nice patio on top of the chapter room that will be great in the warmer months.

Friday night was pretty low key in preparation for game day on Saturday. I went to dinner with a few Phis at Tom And Chee, a local chain that serves mainly grilled cheese. I ordered the mac n cheese grilled cheese and it was AHmazing! It sounded great in theory but I was not expecting it to be so good. Tom and Chee also makes a grilled cheese donut and they have food eating challenge. You have to eat 13 grilled cheese donuts in 10 minutes with only one glass of water. We saw two college guys doing it while we were there and neither one came close at all but it was pretty funny to watch.

After dinner we went over to the Alpha Phi house for a little fashion show. The girls putting it on were campus reps for a boutique and asked each sorority for one participant to model. AEPhi had the most attendance so Rho Chapter won $200 towards their philanthropy!

Afterwards we went back to the house for a sisterhood movie night. They set up the new projector in the formal living room and we all gathered on the couches. We watched Divergent, which I had never seen but have wanted to, so I was happy. It was really good and I highly recommend it if you like the Hunger Games.

Saturday was gameday and I was excited to attend my second ever Big 10 football game! I slept in while everyone get ready and went to block. This ended up being a blessing because the mooring was frigid with freezing rain, which made every sidewalk into a skating rink. But the time left the house for the noon game, it was sunny and above freezing. AEPhi had great seats this season and it ended up being a more exciting game than expected because Ohio State didn't destroy Indiana. Even though it got progressively colder, it was fun and we stayed for the whole game.

On Sunday we did officer transitions. I really enjoyed facilitating leadership development and goal setting for the new board. It went well and I am excited to see Rho Chapter continue to grow!


Look At Miss Ohio by Gillian Welch

Back Home Again In Indiana

Epsilon Epsilon, Indiana University

I was so excited to return to Indiana as their semester winds down. I visited for recruitment last winter, when this executive board was just starting out and now they have a new executive board elect. This year really flew by and it was so nice to come back and see their growth!

I arrived on campus in the middle of the big dance marathon on campus, IUDM. I got to go in to visit for a little while with some Phis and saw the chapter president, Sydney, perform with her dance group. IUDM was very similar to HuskyTHON at UConn and it was so cool to see another school's dance marathon!

During my visit Epsilon Epsilon held elections for their new executive and general boards. They had already slated each position so elections went so smoothly, which was great. Below are the newly elected women; I cannot wait to see what they can do for their chapter!

Every year the week before Thanksgiving, Epsilon Epsilon has a sit down Thanksgiving dinner. The kitchen staff and house director worked so hard to put together a great meal and beautifully set tables. Everyone was told to leave their phones outside of the dinning room and we all enjoyed a great meal together. After we ate, everyone went around to say what they were thankful for. It is such a nice tradition that I loved being a part of!

Wednesday evening was AEPhi's Legacy Night. IU used to have pre-rush at the end of the fall semester but now each chapter is allowed to host an event for their legacies to get the opportunity to meet them before recruitment starts. They had a sit down dinner for all the legacies and gave a short house tour. I had so much fun helping set up and seeing the event play out; it really got me excited for the upcoming recruitment season!

I spent a lot of time indoors at the chapter house because of the snow, ice, and frigid temperatures all week. But on my last day I ventured into campus to the Memorial Union for some meetings and had breakfast over near Kirkwood Ave. I also made sure to go down the path of Greek bricks near the Sample Gates. Since I had been to IU a number of times before becoming a TEC, I knew exactly where AEPhi's brick was; I always like to stop by when I visit campus!

I really enjoyed getting to know the sophomores and working with the juniors again. I had a great visit and hopefully I will return for recruitment again this winter!

Back Home Again In by Eddy Arnold

Meet Me in St. Louis

Psi, Washington University in St. Louis

I was so excited to visit Wash U and St. Louis for the first time! I always love visiting a new chapter and adding a new state to the list!

At Wash U all the sororities have a suite in a building on the main quad. It is basically a big living room with a little kitchenette and AEPhi's was so cute. Above is a photo of the builtin board outside their door. The campus is not too spread out and most of the main building are on the quad, including the student center. The place where I was staying was in one corner of campus where a lot of juniors live. I had a private room and bathroom that students and reserve for quests. It was so nice because it was set up just like a hotel room. A couple of times I almost forgot I was staying in a dorm!

My first night at Wash U some of the newly elected executive board took me to Ted Drewes, a local place famous for their frozen custard. I was so excited to try my first St. Louis place and, if you know me well, you know I almost never turn down ice cream. The frozen custard was amazing and they had so many great flavor combinations. Even though it was 32 degrees, I fully enjoyed the experience. 

The next evening I went to dinner with the current executive board at Ibby's, the restaurant located in the student center. Students can use their meal points to pay (just like Chuck & Augie's at UConn's student union) but it also had the feel and menu of an upscale restaurant, rather than a campus restaurant.

Thursday morning the vp-recruitment, Jamie, took me to her favorite brunch place in Clayton called Half And Half. It is a cute little place that is only open for breakfast and lunch. I ordered the veggie hash, which consisted of two eggs on top of potatoes and brussel sprouts.

That evening I got to meet up with Alison's friend Brittany. They were mentors together at Future's Quest two years ago and now Brittany is a second year grad student in higher education administration at Saint Louis University. It was so fun to meet her and hear all about her student affairs experience! She chose Barcelona for dinner and everything we had was amazing. I followed Brittany's lead and ordered the goat cheese and tomato sauce. It came with garlic bread to dip and it was seriously so good that I want to try to make it at home!

On Friday morning a couple women took me to Winslow's Home for breakfast. It is a cute little place that grows ingredients locally and serves breakfast, salads, sandwiches and a variety of bakery items. All the pies and cookies looked amazing and the egg breakfast I had was great.

That afternoon a few women took me downtown to the Gateway Arch. We walked around and took some pictures but there was no way I was going 630 feet in the air in that little tram. As we were leaving, we drove right by Busch Stadium, where the St. Louis Cardinals play. I hope next time I visit I get to explore downtown some more!

On the way back to University City, we stopped at Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe. Jilly's is famous for their cupcakes (they won Cupcake Wars!) but they also have an ice cream bar and a lunch menu. The girls recommended almost every cupcake flavor but I finally chose the peanut butter cup. It had at least a whole Reese's cup on top and the chocolate cake was filled with a peanut butter cream. Even as my lunch, the cupcake was so big, but I enjoyed every bite!

That evening I went with some Phis for barbecue to Vernon's BBQ. My dad is a huge fan of barbecue so I have had my fare share and have tried it in plenty of places. While I am most used to eating Southern style, I have had Texas and Carolina barbecue in my travels. I had never had St. Louis barbecue (Kansas City style) before so I was excited to try it, including the different sweet sauces. The pulled pork and brisket were both so good and I loved the mac n cheese and smoked apples, too!

After dinner we went to an a cappella concert on campus that a sister was performing in. I always loved seeing the a cappella groups at UConn so I was excited to see some good song choices and enjoy the music.

I had such a great visit to WashU in St. Louis and I only hope I get to visit the school and the city again!

Meet Me In Saint Louis, Louis by Andrew B. Sterling and Kerry Mills