Time to Find Balance

My Resident Hall Director (RHD) who is basically my direct boss as a Resident Assistant (RA) had our staff come together and each one of us make a collage. It wasn’t just any collage though. She asked us to make it about our goals for the year and my goal was “to find balance”.

 Looking at what I had going this year, I had a lot on my plate. And by a lot I mean that the mashed potatoes were spilling on to the table and the gravy was overflowing onto the floor. I am an RA, a member of a sorority, a student, a girlfriend, a friend, and I am planning on getting a job as well.

I could devote all my time to just one of these separate parts of me and still not be at my full potential. This is a very frustrating way to look at it. Instead, I have to learn how to blend all of my different roles into one me. But the tricky part is that I can’t spread myself so thin that everything gets the bare minimum.

I already love my job as an RA. I love all of the people I’ve met in the program. Everyone is so welcoming and inclusive. I absolutely love my staff (the RAs who work in my area). We mesh so perfectly. And I love my residents. If you can’t tell, there’s a whole lot of love going around. Of course there are hard parts that come along with this job—like having to write up people who are blatantly breaking the rules. But the good definitely outweighs the bad.

As a friend, I can already feel the pressures of maintaining relationships and keeping up with work taking its toll—and I haven’t even gone to my first class! I’m so busy during the day, that when night rolls a round I’m exhausted. Of course, night is when everyone is done with class/work and you get to make that decision would you rather sacrifice homework or paperwork to have some fun with your friends, or would you rather sacrifice your friends to do some homework or paperwork. I try so hard to give equal time to both parts, but inevitably the responsible part in the back of my head takes over, and I default to homework.

Especially as a girlfriend, I’ve felt terrible when I’m busy the entire day up until the point when I go to bed. I make a quick phone call to see how my boyfriend is doing, but I need to go to sleep so it doesn’t last too long. However, I love that no matter how busy I get, we always make sure to call each other at least once a day—even if it is only for a few seconds. I have a feeling this year Skype dates will be essentials. Time management is an important skill, and being able to plan an actual time to talk will be helpful.

And since we all know how stressful just being a student is, that brings me to my last role: a sorority member. Last semester I was initiated into Alpha Chi Omega. It was a great semester and I met some of the most amazing people. After a hard debate of what part of me could give a little so I could devote more time to being a good RA, I have decided to leave Alpha Chi. There are many reasons that have gone into this decision, and I would be more than happy to sit down and explain them to all of my sisters and friends. The simplest reason is that I could not put Alpha Chi on the back burner to being an RA. To me, it was all or nothing. I realize this isn’t the most appropriate outlet to go about announcing this, but I thought it was at least a step above Facebook.

I will truly miss everything about Alpha Chi Omega, but I know that my decision does not change my relationship with any of the women I have met. I will continue to support the great things Alpha Chi does, it’s just hard to think that I won’t be able to be behind what they do. Keep up the great work ladies!

So with that starts a new chapter in my life. Today is the first day of classes and I am starting sophomore year with a new position as an RA. I am excited for this year and am certain that in the long run my decision to focus more on being an RA will make me the happiest.

Feeling More Like Home

Today marked the first official day of move-in. My hallway—along with the rest of campus—is starting to get populated. It’s so much fun to have my new residents and their parents buzzing around the hall.

And while they’ve been setting up shelves and putting everything away, I’ve been adding a few nice touches to my room. I put up pictures on my wall and put up some nice notes and drawings from my good friends. It’s nice to see my familiar pictures and things.

While I have been looking forward to move-in week, I can’t wait until it’s over and everything starts falling into place. I can see how my schedule works and when people are in the hall using the showers and what not. It’ll be an awesome few weeks.

Well, I have to run now and go help new freshmen move in. I’m excited to start writing my blog regularly again.

New Beginnings at an Old School

Hey everyone. So first of all, sorry for taking so long to wrap up our cross-country adventure! We did make it and I am so glad to be back at school (never thought I’d say those words!). I’d love to go back and recount all the trials and tribulations my mom and I went through to move me in—like having to rent an SUV to fit a huge 32-inch TV in, and then having 4 guys help me lift it onto my dresser—but I don’t have much time and it has been more than a week after it all happened.

So I’ll just start with what’s happening now. A lot of you have been asking to see pictures of my room, so here they are. I absolutely love my room, and I hope that everyone else does too because it’s perfect for hosting people for movie night or just to hang out. It’s huge! It definitely beats living with 3 other people in a room only double this one.

I’ve been very, very busy with Resident Assistant (RA) Training. For those of you who don’t know, an RA is someone who lives in the same hall or area of residents and is there as a resource, a mediator, and an enforcer of the school policy. That’s the job description in a nutshell, but I’ve been learning the in’s and out’s of the position for the past week. I’ve met a lot of great people and am really excited for my residents to move in on Thursday.

I’ll try to get better with posting blogs, I’ll just have to find a few minutes in each day because I really missed not writing. And oh, I have joined the craze and am now reading Eat Pray Love. I just started, but I’m already enjoying it.

Day 7: Aurora, OH to Parsippany, NJ

Today was not very exciting as far as the driving part goes. However, it was great to wake up and come downstairs to a wonderful breakfast prepared by the Browskie’s. We enjoyed this wonderful baked French toast and some fresh fruit. After breakfast, their son Jim and his daughter Allison came over with their dog Bailey. I wish I had taken a picture of Bailey because she was the sweetest, fluffiest dog I’ve ever seen.

After talking for a bit, we decided we should hit the road. We hit the road without knowing where we were going to stay that night. We didn’t want to go all the way to Connecticut, but we weren’t sure how far we wanted to go. In the end, we made it so we would stop in New Jersey so that I could visit my really good friend that lives there.



So with a destination in mind, we kept on driving through Pennsylvania. And drove some more. And some more. Pennsylvania is just so wide and there is so much construction happening on I-80. I tried to take a picture of the welcome sign, but my car got in the way…I also tried to take a picture of the sign when we were leaving PA, but it’s blurry and the back window got in the way. (See below)




It is very pretty and here's a picture as we passed through the Appalachain Mountains.



We had no fun stops in Pennsylvania, so that made it kind of boring. To break through the boringness was the sound of my mom biting her nails. All of her fake nails had broken off and some little OCD part in her was compelling her to bite her real ones. I kept yelling at her, but she just couldn't stop herself. Thankfully, we found a Wal Mart in Du Bois and while we're sitting in the parking lot, she's applying her new nails. This is also after I changed my shirt to long sleeves in the same parking lot. We just felt the need to add to the atmosphere of the store. We are now officially Wal-Martians.

Other than that, the only “big” thing that happened to us was that we hit 3,000 miles on our trip odometer! That was very exciting.




Right as you cross the New Jersey border, you also cross over the Delaware Water Gap. If it sounds familiar...that's because that's where George Washington crossed in that very famous panting. See the resemblance?




So once we crossed into New Jersey, we were ready for some food and a little bit of rest. We stopped at a Chili’s that was right down the street from our hotel. We had one of the weirdest waiters. He tried to be charismatic, but it just turned out to be creepy. He realized our table wasn’t wiped off, so he comes over and with the spray bottle, writes his name on the table, spelling it out for us. If that wasn’t bad enough, when I told my friend Alyssa about him, she totally knew who we were talking about!



Anyway, after relaxing in our hotel room for a couple hours, Alyssa was finally off work and she came to meet us at our hotel. She picked me up and gave me the grand tour of Parsippany as well as the grand tour of her house. It was fun to see where she lived, and see the room I’ve seen on Skype before! It’s so cool to be in her hometown after hearing so much about it. I then got to meet her group of high school friends. It was cool to meet these people I’ve heard so much about.



But it was late so she took me back so we both could get some sleep. Hopefully I’ll see here before we leave Jersey. But next stop is my school!

Day 6: Gurnee, IL to Aurora, OH

So yesterday was nice, but it was time to hit the road again today. We got up at “too-early” 7:30 and got out of the house by about 8:30. Because Loren had flew out to Denver to meet us in Casper, WY, we had to bring her to the airport to pick up her car. Luckily, it was on our way out, so it worked out perfectly. 40 minutes later we were at the airport and we said our goodbyes and watched Loren walk away.

Then we watched her walk back. We rolled down the window, and she said that she was focusing so hard on not forgetting the parking ticket, that she forgot her keys! We couldn’t believe it! But we did the only thing we could do, which was hop back in the car and go back to her house to get them and then come all the way back. I won’t lie, it sucked. But it wasn’t the biggest deal in the world and we were soon on our way again.



We drove right by Chicago. Last Thanksgiving we had actually went out and visited, so it wasn't a big deal that we didn't go into the city. I still snuck a few pictures of it, but it was a little smoggy. We also passed by the Chicago White Sox baseball stadium. I think it’d be fun one day to take a road trip to different baseball fields.



After that, we quickly came upon the lovely—heavy sarcasm—state of Indiana. Right from the get-go my mom and I did not like this state. The first thing we did was pass through the toll. It took forever. There was a line of like 10 cars and it was crawling by. Finally when we get close, we see what the hold up is. There isn’t an attendant taking your money, but a machine! And I have to add that there are no signs telling you how much money to have ready until you get right up to it.



So anyway, this older woman was in front of us. She must have been 80-years old judging by how much her hand was shaking. But here she is trying so hard to line up the dollar to put it in the little machine. And then she has to put in a couple of corners. My mom felt so bad she was ready to jump out of the car to help her.



Then it’s our turn. Of course we only have a $20 bill for the $1.50 toll. So we put it in and then we hear the clanking of coins. And would you believe it, but it gave us $18.50 in gold dollars and quarters!! I didn’t even know people still used those! However, we gladly gave most of these coins back to Indiana in all the different tolls we passed.



We stopped at a welcome center in Indiana and found out that we were only 15 minutes from South Bend. I didn't know the significance of this until today, but that meant we were very close to Notre Dame. Of course we went to visit and it was a very beautiful campus. The bookstore was huge and I decided to buy a shirt. I probably won't be there again, so it was definitely a cool stop.



East Indiana wasn’t very pretty, but once you hit Amish Country it was very pretty with tons of farms. I might add that Ohio is now the 4th state of corn. It’s amazing how much corn there is—but only about %12 of all the corn grown in the U.S. is actually eaten by people.

We went to this family style restaurant called Das Dutchman Essenhaus. Here’s the link to a site about it: http://www.essenhaus.com/. (Just as a side note, I think it’s weird that there are websites about the Amish Country. It kind of goes against everything they stand for). But anyway, this was some of the best food I’ve had. They served us amazing fried chicken, with mashed potatoes, stuffing, chicken noodles, and corn. Our waitress was very nice but it was really interesting overhearing her conversation with the man next to us. He asked her if the french fries were the best, and said that she liked them, but had never had anybody else’s fries before. It’s so interesting that there are these towns of people living a completely different life than the town right next to them. There really was no fine line between Amish Country and the rest of Indiana.



After dinner, we got to pick a piece of homemade pie. My mom picked banana cream pie and I picked Dutch apple pie. It was the most amazing apple pie I have ever had. I wish I could go back all the time, but sadly it’s in the middle of a state I really didn’t like. We did a little shopping of the touristy stuff they have, and then we had to hit the road again.



On our way out of Amish Country, we realized the highway was only a half a mile away from Michigan. So of course we stopped by to take a picture of the sign and say that we’ve been there. That was our last stop though before Aurora, Ohio.





We are so lucky to know people in Ohio. The parents of our long-time family friend have graciously opened their home (and kitchen) to us. It’s been so fun to see them in their beautiful house, instead of seeing them in California when they come to visit their daughter and grandkids.

We’ve decided that we’re going to stop again tomorrow before Connecticut so that we’re not rushing the whole day. Not sure where we’ll end up, but I’m glad we don’t have to leave here at the crack of dawn and instead we can enjoy a good breakfast with fun company.

Day 5: Relaxation in Gurnee, IL

It was so great to sleep in a nice comfortable bed and wake up when I wanted to—not to the sound of an alarm at 7 in the morning. We didn’t have to rush to get ready and pack up the car. It was wonderful.

For what I’m deeming a relaxing day, we sure did fill the time. Loren’s niece Kristi and her three sons, Tyler (6), Logan (2), and Caden (3 months) came over to visit. We had met all of them—minus Caden because he was still in his mommy’s belly—last Thanksgiving. It only took the boys a few minutes to warm up to us again and we were all laughing and having a good time.

We decided to go to the Rain Forest Café at the Gurnee Mills Mall. Ironically enough, it feels as humid as a rain forest outside. But the trip to the mall turned out to be a day of fun. The Rain Forest Café is always a cool place to go to. While their food is overpriced, the atmosphere is so fun. And it’s always so cute to watch how kids react to the gorilla beating its chest or the elephant moving its trunk.





Logan and Tyler showed me all around, paying special attention to the fish tanks. We found Nemo’s and Dory’s and even a puffer fish. Also, across the way from the restaurant, there was a reptile safari place. A girl was standing in the doorway holding some type of albino boa. Everyone got a chance to touch Banana—that was its name!

We tooled around at the mall for a little bit more. It’s amazing the little things that kids find interesting. But after we said goodbye, Loren, my mom, and I were back on our way to Loren’s to relax a bit before seeing other friends. We did stop at Oberweis—a very yummy ice cream store—on the way home! That was kind of our dinner.

We moseyed around the house for a bit and all of us even laid down for a bit. By the time we looked at the clock, we realized we were going to be late for the birthday part we had been invited to.

We quickly wrapped our presents and hurried over to Chris, Christine, and Brandon's house. We weren’t greeted by the birthday boy because he was a little cranky from being locked in his room all day, but once he came out, he was glad to see his presents. Spunk, their 10-year old cat, loved the little mice I gave him! And in honor of his birthday, we had delicious pumpkin spice cupcakes that Christine made.



At their beautiful house, we played a few rounds of Bananagrams—a Scrabble-like game where you play on your own but with other people. My mom won every round. So instead of having our butts beat for the rest of the night. We brought out a new game: Catchphrase. Games like that are always good for a few laughs!



On our way out of their neighborhood, we saw two deer eating some grass in the empty lots. It must be so cool to have deer living in your backyard! Also, this past day has been great for my much needed kitty therapy. It’s been weird not having a cat living with me (I’ve had one for as long as I can remember). But Loren’s cat Jinxy is very playful and energetic. He may not let me hold him for long, but he loves to get his belly rubbed. And Spunky was a giant mushball who had a lot of fun playing with my feet.

Well, it’s time for bed now because we have a day of driving ahead of us tomorrow. Here we come Cleveland.

Day 4: Mitchell, SD to Gurnee, IL

So at the end of the day while we were driving at night into Illinois, we were all trying to figure out what we did today. I guess after you go to Mount Rushmore and see dozens of bears the day before, driving across 5 states just isn’t exciting. And yes, you read that correctly, we passed through 5 different states: South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and finally Illinois!

The hotel we stayed at in Mitchell, South Dakota was definitely our least favorite of the whole trip. First of all, I’m not sure why but there are hundreds of crickets all around the front of the hotel. When we were wheeling our suitcases in at 1 in the morning, I probably killed about 12 crickets because they are all over the ground, walls, and sidewalks. Loren describes it as a “bad Stephen King novel”.

So already walking into this place we’re grossed out. Then in the room, the wallpaper trim is of pheasants. Really? Pheasants? I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore—or we’re so close to being in Kansas. Either way, it was ugly. After noting the bedspreads that would crinkle when you touch them and the slight mold growing in the shower, I saw that there was another door in the room. I went to open it and I’m not sure I can describe what was on the other side.



It was like an open courtyard, except it was completely covered. So it was pretending to be outside when you were obviously not. It was so muggy and all you can hear are the thousands of crickets swarming the building. I took a picture of what it looks like, but the picture actually makes it look nicer. There’s a swimming pool and a weird set-up of mini golf. It’s also all completely carpeted.

One of my mom’s coworkers suggested that if we’re in Mitchell we better stop at the Corn Palace. Not knowing what to expect, we followed his suggestion straight to the weirdest stop we’ve made. It was only about 2 miles from our hotel and in the midst of houses and stores was this:



It is completely adorned with—you guessed it—corn. There are 12 different types of corn, all different colors, which is how they create images and give the structure its unique look. As if stepping out of your car and seeing this building façade wasn’t enough, when you step inside, there are “corn-cession” stands and then finally an auditorium. There’s a basketball court inside and while there are vendors on the court right now, they do play games there.




Every year the design is changed on the outside and hundreds of thousands ears of corn are placed on the Corn Palace. The first one was built in 1892 and even after all that time they’re still coming up with unique ways to “paint” with corn.



After we hit the road, Loren was looking at the map and noticed that the town where her husband grew up in was only a stone’s throw away from I-90. We were driving through Minnesota and Spirit Lake is in Iowa, so we decided to go visit and cross another state off of our list. Around this time, there was a huge storm. It was absolutely pouring and we had been seeing lightning for at least 30 minutes. It’s so beautiful because the land is so flat that you can see for miles and miles, and when lightning strikes, you can see the entire bolt.





Luckily, when we got to Spirit Lake and stopped at a Wal Mart really quick, the storm had passed. Sadly, I didn’t see any “Wal-Martions” but it’s still cool to say that I was in a Wal Mart in Iowa.

After that, our next stop wasn’t until Blue Earth, Minnesota where there is a giant Jolly Green Giant. This 60-foot statue is just off the highway and he overlooks all the many corn fields. A friendly biker told us that he’s there because that’s where it all started. He is sitting at the edge of the “Valley of the Green Giant”.



When we crossed into Wisconsin, we also crossed the Mississippi River. Let me tell you, it is huge! It is easily the widest river I’ve ever seen in person. We didn’t stop and get out of the car to look at it, but this picture I have crossing over, is only half of the river. The trees on the left-hand side are just part of an island in the middle of it.



It was starting to get dark then and since I was driving, we decided to switch drivers. So we stopped at a gas station—that also had a Quiznos—and got some dinner. While we were leaving, a guy held the door out for me and when I thanked him, he said “You betcha”!! I am so excited that I got to hear that in Wisconsin. It really made my day.



After that little stop though, we were driving in darkness, counting down the hours until we got to Illinois to check in at Hotel Loren. I tried to get a picture of the Illinois sign, but it was too dark and didn’t come out. Maybe I’ll get one tomorrow when we’re leaving Illinois. And also, for those of you who know my mom--and who don't--check out her blog and see her side of the trip!! http://ny2ca2ct.blogspot.com/

Day 3: Casper, WY to Mitchell, South Dakota

Well two nights after little sleep is not very conducive to my happy meter. I won’t lie when I say the third day of our “adventure” has been tough, exhausting, and long! Tension is flying everywhere, and I feel bad for Loren who has to sit in the backseat listening to my mom and i argue and throw nasty comments at each other. But other than that, it’s been a good day.

For those of you that were concerned that Loren was going to have to sit on the roof, we miraculously fit all of our suitcases in the trunk! I should explain exactly how much stuff we have. I have a “beast” of a suitcase. It’s one of the biggest ones I’ve ever see and it is storing clothes that are in space saver bags. Then, I have a regular-ish sized suitcase that has the clothes I want to wear on the trip as well as both my mom’s toiletries and mine. My mom has her own small duffle bag and Loren has a suitcase. Somehow all of that is in the trunk—including various additions to my new room. In the car we have a pink ottoman filled with shoes, a crate with a cooler inside of it, a back pack, a trash bag full of snacks (Allison you’d be so proud!), and all of our purses. It’s kind of a tight fit, but it’s working.

We were anticipating a long day today. It was about 4 hours to Mount Rushmore, and from there it was about 5 hours to our hotel. I am currently writing this at 11 at night on the ride to our hotel room. Needless to say, I’m exhausted…so sorry if things start to not make sense.



On our way to Mount Rushmore (and also into South Dakota) we hit traffic. Traffic in the middle of Nowhere, Wyoming! They were doing construction and for 12 miles the road had all this loose gravel on it. 12 miles!? Can they not chunk it out? I don’t quite understand all the construction they’re doing out here. It goes on for miles and miles and is just frustrating.

We were planning on stopping at Crazy Horse Memorial too today because it’s right on the way to Mount Rushmore. But since we saw it from the highway, we felt no need to pay the $30 to get in. It’s not even finished yet, but it was still quite impressive.



So by the time we get near to Mount Rushmore, my mom and I are both hungry and cranky. If you know either of us and have been around us when we haven’t had anything to eat in a while, you know that this is a deadly combination of anger, frustration, and sheer bitchyness. However, after a sip of XXX Vitamin Water and my first glimpse of the stony presidents faces, I was cheered up—to a degree.

But seriously, the monument is truly amazing. It’s breathtaking and even better than I had hoped it would be in person. I had always wondered what they were looking at from up high on their mountains in the Black Hills, and I finally got my answer. This beautiful view that I posted below is the countryside that they get to enjoy forever. I feel truly lucky that I get to see with my own eyes this amazing country that they helped form.

I want to go back already and see it at nighttime. I can’t even imagine how beautiful it must look at night. But even in daylight—and in cloud cover due to the approaching storm—it was phenomenal. Originally, Rushmore wanted to carve their heads all the way down to their waist. However, when Rushmore died, his son took over and had to stop the project because they ran out of funds. But, you can actually see the start of Washington’s collar being formed that I never noticed before today. The first picture is of the original modeling that Rushmore used.




But, even though we were fed, we are still a little tired and thus still cranky. And being surrounded by masses of people who are oblivious to what’s happening around them is just annoying. I can’t count the number of times someone has bumped into me without even saying, “excuse me”. After checking out the video, exhibit hall, and of course the gift shop, we were ready to leave.

On our way out, we passed this cute little town of Keystone that was crawling with motorcycles. I think I forgot to mention that this is the week/month of Sturgis—one of, if not the biggest motorcycle rally in the country. You can’t go a step without hearing the rumble of an engine. It’s been fun seeing a ton of different bikes along with a ton of different people.





All around Mount Rushmore are a ton of little tourist traps for people that are staying in the area. We of course are not staying anywhere near there, so naturally we were sucked in even when we were way behind schedule. However, this was no trap. It was well worth the money and we all enjoyed it so much. Two words: Bear Country.

It was kind of like a zoo that you got to drive your own car through, but instead of caged animals, they were roaming free and the road you were on just happened to be through their little area. We saw so many different wild animals. At first we saw a bunch of reindeer lying on a small hill. But then we got into a different section and saw a pack of arctic wolves! They were so cute and playful. It was so amazing how close they came to the cars—not jumping on them, just walking by.



Then these two deer that had skinny antlers walked right in front of our car forcing us to stop for a few minutes. One of them even started lightly hitting its antlers on my side on the mirror. I think it might have chipped some of the paint off. But at least I got a cool story out of it!



We also saw a mommy and a daddy buffalo with their two babies. The babies were cute—the parents: not so much.




And of course, we saw bears. Lots and lots of bears! They were so cute! Sleeping, and eating, and walking around. It was so amazing to see them so up close and yet be safely protected in the car. It was hard to pick out which pictures I wanted to use!





After the driving part was babyland which was home to a handful of adorable little cubs. They were all climbing this one tree and playing with each other. I could have watched them for forever. But, sadly, we had to leave because we really needed to get going.





It was shortly after this stop that my mom and I had our first semi-major fight. But it’s in the past now so we’ll just leave it at that. Hopefully tonight we’ll all get a good night’s rest and we’ll be better in the morning.

Another stop on our way to the hotel was at Wall Drug. They had signs leading up to it for 40 miles before it…and probably a ton more before we got on the highway. It was this huge collection of stores full of odd buys and weird finds. I would have liked to spend more time there, but we were hungry—again with the food—and were on our way. There was surprisingly more to do in South Dakota than one would assume.



So now here we are in the middle of Blackness, SD and chugging along to Mitchell. We’ve crossed over to Central Time to make it seem even later. I just can’t wait to shower and get to bed! Chicago tomorrow…and we’ll also be crossing the Mississippi River along the way.