On that School Grind!!

School is officially back in session!!! Technically it's been about 3 weeks since classes started, but I feel like it takes a little while for classes to really get going and for people to realize summer is actually over and school really is going to consume their lives until Christmas.  Unlike some/most people who despise school starting, it really doesn't bother me that much.  Yea I know I'm kind of a nerd, but I like keeping busy and school does that for me.  Also, with school starting it means that fall is almost here!!!!!!!! Fall is absolutely my favorite season, if you couldn't tell by the obnoxious amount of exclamation marks.  It means that you can break out those scarves, boots, and pea coats (my fav fall outfit), pumpkin spice lattes (which are back at Starbucks, btw!!! I'm so freakin excited), the state fair, leaves changing, and cooler weather!!!! Don't get me wrong, I love summer just a much as the next person, and the warm weather, but there is only so much heat a girl can take.  Yesterday morning in Columbia was soooo nice!  It was probably 69 degrees and it felt so good outside, compared to the ridiculous heat we are used to.  It made me so excited and anxious for fall to get here!!  I can't wait!!

Epic Fail

Clearly I have blogging issues.  I had good intentions of blogging all throughout the summer, but obviously that didn't happen.  O well, I'm not going to give up on blogging that easily.  Now summer is officially over and I am back at USC.  Well, I've actually been back in Columbia for about 2 and half weeks but classes just started last Thursday.  I had to get here a week before all the freshman because I had to do spirit week stuff for sorority recruitment.  This year I am Pi Chi which is basically a recruitment counselor who guides all the new girls through the recruitment process.  When you're a Pi Chi you have to completely disaffiliate from your sorority beginning in May until bid day which is in August.  It's been really hard not being able to talk with my friends and roommates, especially when I have to run into the house to pick up my food and the run back out.  It's also been really hard not being able to wear 95% of my t-shirts since most of them have my letters on them, I've been switching between about 5 different t-shirts all summer.  Since I am living in the sorority house this year, I had to move out about 2 weeks ago and I am currently crashing with another Pi Chi's house on her futon.  Needless to say I am ready for bid day to get here so I can start sleeping in an actual bed (only 5 more days)!  But, this whole process of being a Pi Chi is totally worth it!  You get to meet some of the PNMs (potential new members) and you get to help them have a good Greek Life experience and choose the right sorority for them!  It really is a rewarding process and I'm so happy I get to be a part of the other side of recruitment! Other than that, which has been taking over my life since the beginning of August, school is what I'm trying to focus on now and getting everything organized for my classes.  Well, that's pretty much everything that is going on in my life at the moment so until next time (which won't be 3 months I swear)....byeeeee

Traveling Circus

Well, my summer is now going to be consumed by little children.  I started my job as a counselor at a day camp 2 weeks ago.  It's been really fun so far, but it can get pretty crazy and wild at times.  Our days start at 9 in the morning and go until 5 in the afternoon.  But, since I am a counselor I get the privilege of getting there at 8 in the morning and staying until at least 5:30.  Needless to say, I am exhausted when I get home!  Anyway, the camp is divided into about 10 groups and each counselor is in charge of a group of about 8 kids plus or minus a few.  In my group, I have 8 kids and they range from ages 5 to 8.  They are some of the most precious children ever and even though they can get VERY rowdy at times, I just love each and every one of them.  Each day, we start off the day with chapel and then we have 2 rotations of either music, reading, arts and crafts, and sports and then we have lunch.  After lunch, we have 2 more rotations and then it's time for them to head home.  Each week, we have different field trips that we take so that the kids aren't cooped up inside all week.  This past week we went on 3 field trips.  On Monday we went to Bonclarken, which is up in the mountains.  The kids got to swim, climb on the rock wall, go on the zipline, and then go on the swing.  It was a lot of fun and I think the kids really enjoyed it!  On Tuesday, the younger kids got to go to Hollywild animal park for the second half of the day.  We got to go on a safari ride and feed some animals and it was a really great trip for the kids.  On Thursday, everyone took a trip to Columbia to visit the zoo and state museum.  Two words, traveling circus.  It was probably the most chaotic trip I have every been on.  First of all when we got to the church where our camp is held, the power was out. There had been a really bad storm the night before, as usual this summer, and so a ton of people had no power.  On top of that, one of the charter buses we were supposed to take broke down and so we ended up leaving Greenville an hour and a half later than we were supposed to.  Once we got to the zoo, it was around 12:15 and so we had only about an hour to explore the zoo before we had to be back on the bus to head over the museum.  Once we got to the museum, we ate a little lunch and then we had 45 minutes to look around the museum...not enough time.  Once the kids got into the museum, they went absolutely nuts.  They were running around and chasing each other and completely disobeying everything we were telling them.  There is a science floor in the museum where they have some interactive displays that kids can play with.  We might as well have destroyed the entire floor.  It like a horror movie haha they were EVERYWHERE and it just mass chaos.  When I say traveling circus, it is an understatement.  Needless to say the Columbia field trip was a disaster.  Overall though, I am really enjoying being a counselor and it has been so much fun getting to know and play with these kids.  Even though they can be hard to deal with at times, a lot of them don't know any better and so you just have to keep that in mind.  I will definitely post something again soon, because trust me I will never be short on stories to tell!

Slacker

Well, so much for being a faithful blogger.  I really had good intentions of blogging quite frequently, but to be honest at times I completely forgot I had started this blog!  Whenever I would remember, I would be doing something else and couldn't post anything new at that time, and then I would forget to later on.  Typical me.  I'm always forgetting to do things that I reminded myself I needed to do earlier in the day.  O well life goes on. Well, as I'm sure ALLL of my followers are wondering (joke), I kinda just want to give a little synopsis of how my summer is going so far.  This summer I am going to be working at a day camp through Neighborhood Focus, which is a ministry that my church here in Greenville is very involved in.  This day camp is for underprivileged kids, and most are either at or below the poverty level.  I am really excited to start, I had wanted to do this last summer, but some things didn't work out so I wasn't able to.  This is something that I would be interested in doing once I graduate college.  I have really been interested in working with underprivileged kids in a low income area.  So, this is something that will either reinforce my desire to work with them, or lead me down a different path.  Anyways, I have had some downtime since I have gotten home.  My job doesn't start until June 13th so I have had some time to chill and relax.  I have babysat quite a bit for my neighbors and my dad's boss, so that has been nice to have some extra money!  I have slept late and just relaxed at my house, which is perfectly alright with me!  I can't tell you how many times while at school that I got to sleep past 9:00 and just sit on the couch and watch TV.  For me, it is really relaxing and I enjoy it!  I promise to do better about blogging.  I'm sure once I start work I will definitely blog some more, because I'm going to want to share my experiences with the kids!! But for now, in the words of Glozell, Peace and Blessings!

Am I Really This Old?

As I am preparing to take my last final of sophomore year this afternoon, I can't help but think that I am almost halfway done with college.  SAY WHAT?!  I know it is SO weird for me to think that, because it literally seems like yesterday that I was graduating from high school and about to leave to start my freshman year here at USC.  Time, please feel free to slow it down!  With this realization that I am getting ridiculously old, I also realize that I need to star thinking about what exactly I want to do once I graduate from college (weird thought).  Since I am an education major, it is very important to have your masters when you are looking for jobs or a lot of schools won't hire you.  So, I know that I will definitely stay in school after graduation to get that, but what am I going to do after that?  Do I want to teach here in Columbia or in Greenville or go some place completely different?  I have actually thought a lot about doing the Teach for America program.  This is an organization where you agree to teach in low income schools that are devastated by poverty for at least 2 years.  They have programs all over the country from Tennessee, Washington D.C., California, and even in South Carolina.  There are so many opportunities with this program and I think it would be a really neat experience.  But, who knows I could change my mind between now and when I graduate.  So, whatever path God sees fit to send me on is the one I will graciously and faithfully take.  I know that He has a bigger plan for me than I do and I really can't wait to find out what that is!

Giving In

So, I have decided to give into the blogging trend (obviously).  Most of my friends have blogs and I actually really enjoy reading them.  Since we don't all go to the same school, it's a good way to keep up with what's going on in their lives.  To be quite honest, the main reason I decided to start a blog was because I had to deactivate my facebook for the whole summer for sorority recruitment.  So, I really need something to fill my time that would otherwise be spent facebook stalking.  Who knows if I will be a loyal blogger, or one that decides to post every now and them.  I guess it will just depend on how difficult this facebook fast is, but I am going to try and give you updates on what's happening in my life or just when something cool happens and I feel the need to share it with someone.  I know the only people who will probably read this are my friends, but I'm not looking to become some famous blogger.  So, to whoever comes across this, I hope you enjoy :)