Liv Laugh Love

On November 8th, Sigma Kappa celebrated our Founders Day, which is November 9th. At the Founders Day event, we heard from several alumnae that came to celebrate with us, watched a video made by the Gamma Eta pledge class of 2008, had a wonderful s'mores bar, and even took a quiz to see which of SK's five founders we were most like! I had a great time bonding with sisters and hearing from all of the alumnae. On November 9th, the same day Sigma Kappa was founded 140 years ago, I was initiated along with the girls of my pledge class into Sigma Kappa. I'm so excited to officially be a member! After an exciting week with Sigma Kappa, Sterling and I returned to our alma mater North Central, to see the musical "The Drowsy Chaperone" My sister Hannah was a dancing maid and was in almost every musical number of the show and was even front and center for the song "Toledo Surprise." As weird as it was to be back at my high school, I loved seeing...

Sigma Kappa welcomed in Halloween weekend on Wednesday with our Halloween-themed Capture the Flag game with FIJI. More than 60 teams competed and we raised over $7,000 that will go towards our philanthropy (Alzheimer's research) as well as FIJI's philanthropy (muscular dystrophy). My excellent friends from my dorm agreed to be on my team, and although they never got to play, we had lots of fun taking pictures and telling ghost stories in the dark on LaFollette fields. The Capture the Flag event was successful because we raised lots of money and I spent a lot of quality time with my sisters! On Thursday night, my dorm hosted trick-or-treating for kids in the Muncie area. Sterling, Mary, and I dressed up and passed out candy in our dorm lobby with the dozens of other DeHo residents. The little kids seemed very excited to be getting candy from "big" college students! I wrote an article about the event for News and Notes, the Honors publication at Ball State. Here...

I've kept very busy over the past couple of weeks! During homecoming weekend, I performed in Air Jam and my team for DeHority won the prize for best residence hall! Our costumes were tribal-themed and we performed to the songs "Hooked on a Feeling," "Monster," "Pompeii," "Levels," "I'm a Believer," and "Be a Man." On the following Tuesday, I went to my Sigma Kappa new member meeting, where we learn information about the sorority and our chapter, like I always do. We began the meeting as we normally would, and about halfway through we were surprised with Big/Little reveal! We all walked over to the student center where we found a balloon with our name on it (courtesy of my wonderful Big, Mackenzie), and when we popped the balloon we found a paper with the name of our big! I got a large gift bucket as well as paddles from my Big and my Grandbig, Julie! One of Sigma Kappa's philanthropies is Geron...

Over the past two weeks, Sterling and I have been practicing every night with our dorm's team for Air Jam. Air Jam is a homecoming tradition at Ball State and features teams that compete against each other using dance routines and lip-syncing. Our routine is set to a mash-up of current songs and classic songs! We are putting our show choir experience to use and have also met a lot of new friends on the team, which is about 20 people in total. We practice every night until 12; most practices start at 10 or 11. The show is on Thursday, October 9th and will kick-off homecoming weekend.  This week I wrote about Air Jam in my first small article for News and Notes, the Honors College publication and online news letter!  Last weekend I went home for the first time since I've been here! I got to have lunch with my beautiful Linnea and spend a lot of time with my wonderful sister. I was not quite expecting the disorienting feeling that was waking up in my bed at h...

Last week continued in magnificence when The Fray and opening act The Mogli's came to perform at Ball State on Wednesday! My roommate Casey and I went and the concert was fabulous!  Thursday night was the Sigma Kappa pinning ceremony where we dressed in all white and received our new member pins! Although I won't be officially initiated until November, the new member pin indicates that I'm officially  a sister of Sigma Kappa! I also was excited to find out that my friend Kim from high school also pledged Sigma Kappa at George Washington University! This past weekend was family weekend on campus, and so my mom, dad, and sister came to visit! We went to the Sigma Kappa house for an open house and then next door to the Honors house for the first annual honors picnic! After having some brownies and lemonade, we made the mile and a half trek to the football stadium to watch Ball State play ISU. Casey, Sterling, and I went out to dinner with my family...

What a busy week! Beginning on Tuesday night, I had a very full, fun, and (sometimes) stressful week of recruitment. Tuesday night I went to orientation where Pi Chi's (girls who have disaffiliated from their sororities to serve as unbiased guides for us) showed us what types of outfits were appropriate for each round. Wednesday night we got into our groups of about 50 girls and met our 3 specific Pi Chi's. These were mine! Thursday and Friday were first rounds, in which I met all 10 houses. At the end of the day, I ranked my top 6 to see on Saturday! Saturday I ended up seeing 5 out of the possible 6. It was a very full day beginning at 9:30 and ending around 5! Saturday was focused around each houses' philanthropy. Once again, at the end of the day I ranked my top 2 to see on Sunday's pref rounds.  On Sunday, I spent one hour in each of two great houses- Sigma Kappa and Kappa Delta. The girls of both houses were absolutely wonderful and I got a...

This week started off with a much-needed visit from Grace and Sarah before they each headed off to school! Sterling and I walked them around to see the campus and show them what buildings we have classes in (now that we finally know how to get to those buildings!)  We even ate in the dining hall and later explored the Village and ended up at Greek's Pizza for dinner! The pizza at Greek's is fantastic and I highly recommend the cinnamon  twists for dessert! Grace spent the night and we spent the evening in my floor's kitchenette watching the VMAs! We even ordered Insomnia Cookies (delivered right to the dorm). Delicious. Once again, I highly recommend the chocolate-mint cookies. At the "Late Nite" party thrown on-campus, we got the chance to hold turtles with the Snakes Alive program! Afterwards, we explored the Village again. I would compare the Village to an area like Broad Ripple, or to any other "village" area outside of any college campus! Th...

That's right...I officially made it through my first week of classes! With one power-nap done and one class period already cancelled, I finally feel like a college student. Tuesday I had my "Dance 100" class called "Intro to Dance History." Serving as my fine arts credit, the course will consist of going to dance performances around campus and learning about different genres of dance. Our professor told us Tuesday to not come to class on Thursday, but instead to complete a five-question quiz online. I could get used to this; the class is in a building on the very edge of campus and is a good 20 minute walk from my dorm! My next class of the day was History of the West in the World. The class has almost 300 students in it and we all fit into one large lecture room. Picture the typical college lecture: impersonal, crowded, and stuffy. However, our professor has a great sense of humor and a real passion for history.  On Thursday I met with my Honors 100 group, ...

Welcome to my blog! I've been thinking of beginning a blog for a while now, and my transition to college life seems like the perfect platform! Additionally, I am beginning my track to an English major; it never hurts to write more! I appreciate many of my family and friends' interest in my beginning days on campus, welcome week, and all my new classes. By beginning this blog, I hope to give you all a view into my daily life as I transition into college.  I moved on campus on Wednesday, August 13th. My move-in was smooth with my awesome roommate Casey! Saying goodbye to my parents after we were all moved in was difficult, but all of us are excited for my new adventures! Yesterday, August 18, was the first day of classes. The five days in between move-in and classes showed no shortage of fun activities for incoming freshmen! I got the opportunity to meet many new friends at the Honors College picnic and scavenger hunt on the 14th, which required us to run all around...