Happy Christmakwanzakah!

And that is honestly because I've missed the beginning of every winter holiday so far! Sorry everyone!

Merry belated Christmas, happy belated Hanukkah , and joyous belated Kwanza!

Sorry again that it's so late. I've just been so productive over the first half of my winter break that I haven't been able to blog!

Let's see what I've done so far:

• gone running
• finished my book
• made and wrapped everyone's Christmas gifts
• scrapbooked for Phi Rho
• baked Christmas cookies
• bought next semester's school books
• and color with my new crayons!

Haha, this is what I call productive, or at  least "winter break productive". I still have quite a long list of less enjoyable things to accomplish, but I'll worry more about those later.

I cannot believe how much snow the southeast part of Michigan got yesterday and this morning! I went outside to measure it because I didn't actually believe the weather reports, and low and behold, we got 8 inches! I think that's more than the last two years combined. My plan was to go outside and build a snowman, but I couldn't convince my sixteen year old brother to come with me so... yeah that didn't happen. Maybe on tomorrow's agenda?

Oh, I do want to mention something that I got for Christmas this year. My brother.. my goodness, he just knows me so well. His gift was probably one of my favorites that I received. Little known fact, one of my favorite YouTube videos is this one:

Because, otters. They are just too cute and the fact that they hold hands so as not to drift away from each other when they're sleeping may be the most adorable thing ever. So my brother, knowing all of this, got me this poster:

Seriously, how awesome is that?! That video never fails to make me smile, even when I'm really stressed out with school and work, and now I have a picture to hang up in my room that has the same effect. Perfect :)

Other than adorable otters, my Christmas Day went very well! We made a yummy breakfast and opened presents in the morning, lounged around in the afternoon, I went running with my new thermal gear and running watch (thank goodness it was before the blizzard hit), then made surf and turf dinner followed by board game night with my family. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful people in my life :)

I hope everyone else is enjoying the holidays just as much as me!

All that counts is here and now.

Alright, so about these finals... I've got a bone to pick with you all about it. The only thing I've heard people talk about or seen on social media (aka. Facebook and Twitter) is people complaining about how unprepared they are, how little hours of sleep they are going to get because they're studying all night, or how poor their grades are going to be after these finals are over.

Well you know what, I have no sympathy for you people. You are the ones who are wasting time on these websites trying to get attention and solace from anyone you're connected with, when you could be STUDYING AND PREPARING FOR YOUR EXAMS. Guess what. Everyone is in the same boat as you! All of us our studying or writing papers or making presentations for our classes, so we aren't going to feel bad for you if we're in the exact same position. It doesn't matter if you have five finals and I only have two. That's the way it happened to work this semester. I might be swamped with projects and exams next semester, and you might just have a couple of exams that aren't even cummulative. Everything will balance out in the end.

Also, if there's anything that I've learned from my last three years of secondary education, it's how to effectively prepare, or at least do so to the best of my ability. I'm not going to lie: I worked my butt of all (or most) of the semester, so I don't have to cram all the information I was taught over the past four months into a week's worth of studying. To be honest, I haven't studied more than three hours or so for each of my exams this week, and I've mostly been catching up on television shows, reading my books, or running errands...

Granted, there are the people that can cram, cram, cram all of their classes into one or two all-nighters and ace their finals. Kudos to you, but that's not how it works for me, let alone in the real world.

Basically, the point of this rant is that you all just need to relax. Think about it this way: this one class that you're having difficulty with, whether it may be one, three, or more credits, it is a small fraction of the 128 (or more) you will be graduating with when you get your diploma leave MSU. All you need to do is put everything into perspective.

With that, good luck to everyone this week! It's not the end of the world, you're going to be fine, and it's almost over. Plus, there's the Holidays, snow, and a New Year to look forward to :)

Campus Holiday Dinner!

Tonight is the Holiday Dinner in all of the major cafeteria's around campus!!! This is one of my favorite dinners the caf provides, mostly because there is just SO much food to choose from! Here's the menu for South Pointe (Case Hall), but almost all of the cafeterias will be serving the same thing:

• Grilled New York Strip Steaks
• Golden Butterfly Shrimp
• Corn
• Baked Potato
• Franks in a Blanket
• Crab Rangoons with Orange Marmalade Dip
• Mozzarella Cheese Sticks with Marinera Sauce
• Fresh Fruit Display
• Cheese and Crackers
• Baked Red Snapper
• Sauteed Chicken with Spinach
• Quattro Formagia
• Golden Fried Shrimp
• Long Grain and Wild Rice
• Acorn Squash
• Parmesan Knot Rolls
• Assorted Knot Rolls
• Cinnamon Raisin Dinner
• Rolls (with three assorted flavored butters)
• Holiday Punch
• Egg Nog
• Gourmet Hot Chocolate

Not to mention all of these AMAZING desserts!:

• Peanut Butter Fudge
• Chocolate Fudge
• Rocky Road Fudge
• Sugar Cookies
• Assorted Mini Holiday Cupcakes
• Pumpkin Cheesecake
• White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake 

  The reason that I bolded AND italicized the sugar cookies is because I helped decorate them at the MSU Bakery!! I'm not sure if I had actually ever mentioned it before, but that's one of my favorite reasons for working there. It is always so much fun around the holidays even though there are dozens upon dozens of sugar cookies to decorate. It's never a bad thing though because I get to pick up extra shifts!

Anyway, you should all go to the holiday dinner at whatever cafeteria is closest to where you live! I even know people who live off campus and are still going because they know they're going to get a great meal out of it! :) And don't forget to try the sugar cookies! :D

'Tis the season.

How in the world is it already the LAST WEEK of Fall semester classes?!?!?! I know that they say time flies, but boy, did it have to fly that quickly?! I remember when I was writing a blog about midterms and now it's FINALS?! I guess my schedule is so consistently busy that I never stop to think about how fast the time is going by...

I think this has been one of my most inactive weeks for finals preparation as well. I lucked out, in terms of engineering, because I didn't have a design project to do for the end of any of my classes. The only MAJOR projects I had to work on were two papers, a short presentation, and a test I have tomorrow acting as our final. No wonder I only just realized how close it was to going home..

And Christmas! I don't even want to think about that just yet. I have NO IDEA what I'm getting my close friends, let alone my boyfriend or family members. Good thing there's about a week and a half between the beginning of break and the actual holiday! I'll have some seriously planning, shopping, and creating to do during that time. That's another thing about me. I like giving gifts that I make! Pinterest is a WONDERFUL source for all sorts of DIY crafts, so I'm bound to find something cute to make! Most likely it will revolve around food. I feel like those are the best types of gifts sometimes.. :p

Speaking of presents, I actually have a Christmas list this year! If I even ask for anything, it's normally tuition or sorority money, but this year, I'm asking Santa for a running watch, a nice scarf (preferably Spartan themed), and a new travel coffee mug! I probably could have gotten all of these things for myself on Black Friday (or whatever they call it now since it starts ON Thanksgiving...), but I wanted to change it up this year and make it different for my parents :p What are you asking for this year?

This Christmas break should be really relaxing , yet incredibly productive. I already of a list going (and I've probably checked it more than just twice ;]). It mostly consists of catching up on all of the books I have yet to read and television shows I have yet to finish. But I do have quite a bit to do for Phi Sigma Rho as well, considering I will be Senior Member Educator next semester! I'm very excited to recruit for our Gamma class and teach them all about Greek life and Phi Rho! :D My junior Member Educator is SUPER ENTHUSIASTIC about it, so it's going to be fantastic working with her!

Ahh! I'm so exicted! I just need to get through five more classes and three finals!

So thanks for making me a fighter.

I owe this blog quite a long post.. Sorry that I haven't written anything recently! Despite the fact that we just got over with Thanksgiving break, I didn't really have a "break" per say. But you know what? That's alright. I got a lot of things done that I needed to, so I feel a lot better going into the LAST THREE WEEKS of the semester! Wow, has the semester gone by that fast already? It feels like it was just syllabus day..

Anyway, I've been pretty busy with school, internship hunting, and preparing for Christmas! Also, this week is I-Week (stands for Inspiration Week), so it's packed full of events that I'm supposed to do with my sorority. Talk about great timing, eh? Oh well, spending time with my sisters is always a great way to wind down from stressing so much about school and adulthood. So! Here's what I've been doing with my life over the past few weeks:

Last week was Thanksgiving, and since my labs and Wednesday classes were cancelled due to travel, I was able to go home MONDAY night and surprise my family! My mother actually didn't believe that I walked through the door at first, it was pretty funny :P. I was so happy to spend more than just the holiday and travel days with my family, too. I so desperately needed a break from school and work and engineering, so it was so great to hang out with my brother and parents and be prodctive at home! But here's the bad part - I never got to sleep in and make up for the lack of sleep I get at school! Every morning I had something going on whether it was Thanksgiving related, runnings errands, and attending my brother's percussion events. My favorite part of break was not actually eating tons and food and spending the holiday with family (though that was DEFINITELY still a fantastic part), but running the Turkey Trot with my brother! It was an absolutely beautiful day for a run despite the fact that the race began at 7 in the morning, and a 10k is not officially the farthest I've ran since I started in May! My goal is to be able to run the Hawk Island loop from campus (about 10 miles!) by the end of next Spring semester. I think if I can do that, I will sign up for a half marathon next fall. :) It will be my New Year's Resolution! 

Other than the Turkey Trot, I was able to get everything I needed for upcoming events like Initiation, Big/Little Reveal, christmas gifts, and I was even able to get some new thermal gear from Black Friday sales! I love Black Friday shopping, but I'm not one of those crazy people that get up SUPER early the day after Thanksgiving or even go ON the holiday. I just think that's silly and unnecessary.

Now, here's my future plan for the rest of the semester!: Not much is going around on around campus since football season is over and it's now so close to finals. I feel like I should be studying every day for the next two weeks since all of my finals are cummulative, but I just can't bring myself to start! Some of the best motivation to get me to study is to listen to movies scores, espeically action movies that have epic themes. I can't even begin to list all of my favorites but some are Star Wars, Superman, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, How to Train Your Dragon, Harry Potter, X-Men, and Batman. The best way to do it is to use Pandora, or another type of internet radio. My current stations is John Williams Radio, and it's awesome. I'm listening to it as I write this blog! :)

It's getting late though, and I should probably get sleep before my Fluid Dynamics quiz tomorrow, yikes! I'll update later with pictures from I-Week and the Turkey Trot! :)

Spartan teams are NEVER beaten, all through the game they fight!

So.. this weekend is the last home football game of the season, and that makes me really sad. :( With the NHL lockout and all, I will have no sporting events to look forward to watching on TV or possibly making a trip down to Detroit for... I mean, I know I have MSU college hockey to look forward to for the next 6 months, but it's just not the same as professional hockey. But anyway, back to the current sport conundrum.

Ever since I've attended a Big Ten university, I've grown to fall in love with college football. I've probably talked about it multiple times throughout this blog, but I just can't help but keep saying how much I truly enjoy it! The atmosphere in the stadium is INCREDIBLE: 75,000+ people that are all there to support a group of over a hundred Spartans as they play their hearts out every game of the season. I love the "Go Green! Go White!" chant that envelops the entire stadium, singing our Fight Song EVERY time the marching band plays it, and all of the little traditions we have as a student section like our first down chant and shaking our keys on the opponents 3rd down. I definitely can do without the vulgarities and negative chants that our section starts, but I think the enthusiasm and positive cheers can make up for it.

I think it's kind of funny that I love football so much now that I'm in college. I was in marching band all four years of high school, but I never payed attention to our Friday night games, let alone knew the rules of how it worked. Now I feel like I can hold a conversation about it, including stats about other schools in other leagues. One of my friends even told me that I'm the most sports-inclined girl he knows. :P My boyfriend loves football too, and I've found that it makes the game that much better when you're standing in the stadium with people that enjoy it just as much.

So now that you know what my plans are for the weekend, I encourage you (if you have student section tickets) to attend the last game of the season! Yes, it might be chilly, and yes, we may lose again, but that shouldn't stop you from cheering for the overall BEST team in the Big Ten in our beautiful Spartan Stadium!

Here's a little pump up video! :)

Go Green!

Go White!

BEAT THE WILDCATS!

Every heart beats true for the red, white, and blue.

Hey you! Yeah, you!

IT'S VOTING DAY!

And I'm not just talking about for the presidential election. I'm talking about all of the proposals that will IMMEDIATELY affect YOU before the president passes something that actually will. That's why it's especially important that you voice your opinions by voting at the polls today.

Unfortunately, I did not apply for an absentee ballot, and I can't go home and vote due to classes, but I still encourage everyone who HAS the opportunity, to take it.

And don't forget, your opinions are yours and yours alone. Don't let your friends, family, or political ads try to influence you on how you should vote. Based on all of the information you know about a particular candidate or proposal, you have the right to make your own decisions.

Now, go out there and vote. :)

And my monster mash is the hit of the land! For you, the living, this mash was meant, too.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Because Halloween is MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY, I wanted to share some of my favorite Halloween traditions with you!

1. Ever since Pandora came out, all I listen to on October 31 is the "Halloween Party Radio" Station. I've been listening to it since 7:30am, and all of my favorite songs have already come up :)
2. Another thing I always do at (the very) least once, is watch the Simpson's Treehouse of Horrors. Edgar Allen Poe has always been one of my favorite poets, and The Simpson's rendition of 'The Raven' is pretty entertaining. I'll try to read some of his other works throughout the day, since he's such a dark poet, but I don't think I'll have that much time today in my busy schedule...

3. When it comes to costumes, I am the queen of Halloween costume ideas. Or at least I like to think so. I've made all of my own costumes since senior year of high school (with the exception of last year), and I always gt some pretty nice compliments. This year, I'm going as Quorra from Tron. It's not as elaborate as I'd like it to be, but that's what happens when you're a senior on a budget :p

4. The final thing that I LOVE to do around this time is watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas." I just love the music, the storyline, the artwork. Even if I do not get to watch it the day of Halloween, I'll always watch it (multiple times) between now and Christmas. It's so perfect because it's a combination of the two holidays!

I'll post pictures of my costumes when I get the chance! :D I hope everyone else has a fantastic Halloween full of monster mashes, time warps, and much more! 

The Perfect Storm.

So I hadn't heard about Hurricane Sandy until this morning when it was like, you know, SLEETING outside on my way to class. I don't know HOW I didn't know this, but I seriously had NO IDEA that a massive tropical storm was approaching the East Coast until it was just about to strike. Many of my friends have been talking about it on Facebook whether they're wishing their family, friends, and acquaintances safety, posting pictures or news articles about the storm's intensity and damage done already, or they're LIVING on the East Coast and are informing their friends and family through social media that they're still safe and well. I honestly don't even remember the last time a storm this bad blew threw the area..

The one bad thing about social media and this storm is that everyone is posting and re-posting INCORRECT information, data, or photos from the storm. I saw this picture and thought it was wicked cool for the photographer to capture it at the exact moment, but at further inspection I realized it was photoshopped.

That's pretty darn cool, isn't it? Too bad the Statue of Liberty and the surrounding New York area was just photoshopped on to another image which I'm pretty sure came straight out of a movie. Here's a link to some other phony photos that you've probably seen thrown around the internet: Hurricane Sandy Strikes! (Except not really)

Despite all the craziness going on with what is and isn't true, it does remind me how important it is to be prepared. Even though we Michiganders live far from the coast, we can still feel the effects of the storms hundreds of miles away. Not to mention some of the crazy winter storms we can get that can knock out power for days. My mom told me the best way to deal with the storm is to be prepared both mentally and physically. Keep nonperishable food on stock, a first-aid kid, extra and fully charged batteries, an abundance of blankets and pillows in case the power and heat are to go out, a radio, phone chargers that don't require an outlet (if you can), and anything else that can keep you occupied if you're stuck inside for a long time. Even though, I've never experienced a storm as bad as Sandy, it's always important to be prepared for the worst!

Touch-a-touch-a-touch-a me, creature of the night.

Okay, I've got a bone to pick with touch screen technology innovation. Are electronics getting bigger after the revolution of making them smaller?! Being a '90s child, I remember when cell phones were gigantic bricks and being able to touch the display screen for regular use wasn't even prototyped. With the revolutionary technology to make the core processors and control systems smaller, we were able to create smaller electronics without compromising performance, processing speed, or memory.

Then we discovered touch screen technology. Initially, it was a fantastic idea because it eliminated the use of having multiple buttons and keys that could only perform specific tasks. Touch screens became quite popular with cellphones as we with successful corporations like Apple, Samsung, and Google.

Next came the tablets and touch pads. I remember when the commercials for advertisements for the first iPad were released. It was SO COOL to see all the tasks performed on a cell phone could be performed on a larger screen, in addition to gaming, wi-fi, and a better way to watch videos and movies. Plus, it was one of the first MOBILE electronics to be able to do anything like that!

So here's the scoop, Intel recently released a demonstration of the largest touch pad so far: a 27" that truly doubles as a computer and a television monitor. Here's a description of what it contains:

"The display of Intel's new prototype has 1080p HD resolution, is about 2.5 inches thick, and contains a processor and all the components a PC needs, as well as two large, flat batteries. For desktop use, it can be set on a dock that charges the computer, connects to a keyboard and mouse, and contains a DVD drive, ports, and a graphics processor to allow high-performance gaming. The touch interface can be used both when the display is docked and when it isn't."

Please tell me, what is so darn attractive about this?! A mobile phone? Great. A 13" mobile computer? Even better. But a mobile television monitor?! I personally would not want to lug a 2.5 in thick FRAGILE electronic around my house for recreational use. I mean, I thought people using touch pads to take notes in class was a little excessive (cool, not definitely not necessary), but this is just a little over the top for me.

To read the full article on Intel's new technology, click here.

But really, would YOU consider buying something like this for your home/apartment? I'm just curious how other people feel about this too.

You've arrived at Panic Station.

Well everybody, it's officially halfway through Fall semester 2012! And you know what that means?!

It's midterms week.

Of everyone I talked to though, I think I've gotten the worst of it. A lot of my friends have had there exams and projects and presentations between the beginning of last week and the end of next week. Me? I get 4 exams in a 72 hour span. I haven't decided if that's a good thing, or a bad thing yet. It's kind of like finals week, so I'm used to the constant studying, but having classes, work, and Phi Rho in-between all of it is making it pretty difficult. But I really do like the fact that I can get everything done and over with in one week... Hmm, I guess my grades will just have to show me how well I like these kind of weeks!

I hope that everyone else is having a better week, at least academically. Everything else is going well this week for me! My boyfriend and I are celebrating our one year anniversary, planning for Initiation and Installation for Phi Sigma Rho are going smoothly so far, and I get to go to Cedar Point on Saturday! I think it'll be a great wrap up to a crazy, dedicated-to-studying week.

Oh! I forgot to update about my experiences at the Career Fair! I talked to about 10-12 companies that day including, Ford, Chrysler, GM, Eli Lilly, Whirlpool, Belden, General Electric and Marathon. (I really went for the big companies this year, didn't I?) Out of that four hours, I received interviews with Chrysler (x2), Whirlpool, and Belden, and I'm still waiting to hear back from Ford this week! I had also had interviews with Shell Oil and GE Aviation earlier in the day, so that brings my total interview count up to 6 now! Now I just have to cross my fingers and wait to see if a company offers me an internship because I've done all that I can do :)

Good luck to you all on midterms, projects, presentations, and everything else going on this week! And let's hope for a HUGE Spartan victory at the school down the road this weekend!

GO GREEN! :D

Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

I don't think my body could have chosen a worse time to get sick. But then again, EVERYONE is sick. Have you noticed that? This is the first hay fever season that I've actually noticed that the majority of my friends (aka. everyone who lives in the engineering building like me) has some sort of cough, head cold, or aching body. Unfortunately, I feel all three. And it doesn't get better because everyone else is constantly sick too. But that makes sense though: we all share the same computer labs in the Engineering, we all eat while we sit there and do our homework for hours on end, and if we're all sick... well, that just means we have to learn to keep clean!

My suggestion?
     1.) Carry a travel sized bottle of hand sanitizer on you whenever you're out of your dorm room or apartment. You never know when you're going to need it, especially because you won't always have the opportunity to wash your hands, especially before you eat.
     2.) If you're going to be studying in a public place for a while like the library, International Center, or Student Union, bring a little bag of cleansing wipes to wipe off the surface of your study area. Being cooped up in a small, germy space for a long time makes it easier for you to catch a bug.
     3.) Always wash your hands! I know your mother has probably been telling you to do this since you were three years old, but this is one of the most important and easiests ways to stop the spread of germs on campus.

I just hope that I can get over this cold really quickly! I have four interviews this week, and midterms are next week... it's going to be rough, but I'm positive I can get through it! The answer is: sleep. Lots of sleep, and tons of daily naps :)

Ohhh 1, 2, 3, 4 fires in your eyes, and this chaos, it defies imagination.

Aaaaaaand guess what day it is again?

It's Career Gallery at the Breslin Center!

And I already have two interviews! I'm really excited for this year, because now that I have an internship under my belt, I feel a lot more qualified to work for and contribute to other companies. I am also looking at several different companies this year than I did last year. Last year, my mind was set on getting an internship anywhere with any company, no matter what I was doing engineering related. This year, I'm a little more focused on who I want to work for and what I want to do for them. I have a list of all the companies I'm going to talk to and a little spiel about why I would be a good candidate for their programs.

I feel much more confident this year as well, and I think that's one of the MAJOR things that helps you talk to employers. You can have all the experience and knowledge and technical skills you want, but if you can't communicate or present your opinions well enough, a company won't want to hire you first.

I'm off to my first interview now, but good luck to everyone who will be attending the Career Galleries over the next two days! If you want more information on the times for each day (Science & Technology is Wednesday, and Business is on Thursday) then go to www.myspartancareer.com to check it all out!

:)

I wanna see it painted, painted, painted black.

Since I am a senior this year, I have decided that I am making a Michigan State University Student Bucket List. I know I'm a little late in the game and there's probably plenty of things that I've missed out on already, but I want to bleed as much green as I can before I go alumni status! 

I did happen to cross one item off my list the other day: participate in painting the Rock! September 24 is Phi Sigma Rho's Founder's Day, and I wanted to do something special with our colony, considering we are so new, so I came up with the idea to recognize it on campus by painting the Rock! Many of the sisters had never done it before either, so it was a fantastic new experience for all of us! 

Now the rules for painting the rock are simple: get their early, guard it, paint it after the sun sets. Since we were guarding it on a weekend, we had to get there extra early on Sunday afternoon to stake our claim. And luckily we did because no more than half an hour after I got there did another group show up in hopes to paint the Rock as well! They were pretty disappointed, but at the same time they were happy to learn that they'll need to get there earlier for the next time they try! 

It was pretty cold while we were waiting to paint, so a couple of girls brought blankets and hot chocolate to keep us warm. :) When the sun finally set, we sprayed the whole rock with a base coat, let it dry, and then wrote the following:

It works because our colors are Wine Red and Silver :)

It was so exciting to see our finished product! All of the girls who spent the night guarding it (I mean, we had scheduled shifts until 6am!) ended up initialing the bottom position, and we put an alpha and beta in the center to signify our two classes. I am so happy with how it turned out, and I'm really happy to say that I finally painted the Rock on Michigan State University's campus :D

Here's more pictures!

I couldn't be happier, right here.

The sisters of Phi Sigma Rho at Michigan State University have successfully completed our first RUSH week! :D :D Well, it was over a span of two weeks actually, but that's besides the point. We had been waiting for these events since the end of last spring semester, and it's already come and gone. My friend, Mariah, is our Rush Chair and she had been working on all of the rush stuff ALL summer long. This including, planning what events we were going to do, where and when we were going to do them, coordinating how we would advertise our sorority to new girls, buying all of the materials needed for the events, planning our bid acceptance event, AND the new class induction ceremony. Boy, did she have her hands full, and she did SUCH A FANTASTIC JOB. Seriously, I'm so proud of her and how well everything went!

From the beginning, we had about 75 girls on the email list, which cut down to about 30 that attended at least one rush event, and now we have 17 that accepted their bids and have been inducted as our Beta class. :) I cannot believe that we're close to doubled in size, with so many new faces!

Rush week was so much fun though. Here's what we did:
1. First Night: General Information with Q&A session to learn about who we are, what we do, and why you should join. Then we got into groups (mixing the potential new members in with the Alpha class!) and played an awesome engineering game called Bigger & Better. Each group is given a bag full of random items from glow sticks to toilet paper to plastic bags and the goal is to make the "biggest" or "best" something. All of the girls were so creative and it was a great to get to know them for the first time in that kind of setting.

Working together in groups since that's what we do in all of our engineering classes!

The winners: Most Creative, Biggest, and Best awards!

2. Night 2: Craft Night! This was definitely a lot of the girls' favorite night. Mariah found a whole bunch of penguin and star related crafts on Pinterest (because those are two of our symbols) and the girls just had a blast making them. It was awesome because there was enough time for each girl to make multiple crafts so they could meet new people at each station. And once again, we could all show off our girly and creative engineering side :)

So many penguins and stars!!!!

Penguin Family :)

4. Third Night: Game night! Mariah brought about 12 board and card games from home, many of which I had never heard of but were definitely fun to play and learn. We split up into groups and played each game for about twenty minutes before rotating to another group and another game. The winner of each game would record points, and whoever had the most points at the end of the night won MSU Dairy Store Ice Cream Coupons. This was one of my favorite nights because I LOVE board games, especially the classics like Scrabble and Monopoly! 

4. The fourth and final night was an ice cream social! Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from this night.. This is mostly because I was volunteered to scoop all of the ice cream since I have had two summers of previous experience :P. It was delicious though because we had MSU Dairy Store ice cream (I mean, who doesn't these days?!) and the girls were able to ask all of their final questions. We also played "Speed Sistering" so that the potential new members could tell us last minute anything about themselves that would help them get a bid.

In the end, I liked all of the girls who I talked to that week, and I'm so excited to welcome 17 new wonderful ladies into our family. :D

Something there that wasn't there before.

I love discovering something new. Whether it's a new type of technology that makes life easier, a new type of food that I find that I love, or just learning something new about myself, I just LOVE expanding my knowledge of things in general.

What I discovered new the other day was a place on campus that I had never been before. And after being here for over three years, I feel like I should know this place like the back of my hand. Completely randomly, I had decided to leave the Plant and Soil Sciences building out of a different exit than I normally would have taken, and I stumbled upon a beautiful garden, that I had never seen, let alone heard of, before. It was about noon, so the flowers were in full bloom, the sun was highest in the sky and the wind was blowing a soft, cool breeze through the trees and flowers. I couldn't help but stop what I was doing and just stare at the beauty of the scenery. And of course, being me, I couldn't help but take pictures as well :)

It's actually much larger than it looks in the pictures. I would definitely consider taking a break from class and wandering around the area some days. It's peaceful enough to curl up and read a book :) 

Have YOU discovered something recently that you never realized before?!

A very merry (un)birthday!

Today would be my unbirthday (referring to Alice In Wonderland, of course) but this past Tuesday it wasn't! I just celebrated my 21st birthday, and oh boy, do I feel old. :p 

It's always been nice to have my birthday around a national holiday because it means about the half the time it's on the extended weekend of Labor Day, so I can relax and not stress about having to go to class. This year, unfortunately, was not the case. Luckily it was my Tuesday classes which, for most engineers, means one or two labs and maybe a lecture. I had both a lab and a lecture, but it was basically still "syllabus" week, so I didn't stress too much.

I think I had more fun the night BEFORE my birthday, than on the actual day, though :p. Since I was in fact turning 21, my 21-year-old friends wanted to take me out to get a drink at midnight, and we decided to have a get-together for a few hours before so I could still celebrate with my non-21-year-old friends. And it was a ton of fun! I got all dressed up and my roommate baked me a cake and everyone sang happy birthday. :) I was really excited because the majority of my MSU friends were there, and my friend volunteered to take pictures all night on his very nice camera. He said he ended up taking over 500 photos! Normally I'm the photographer at all of the events I go to, so I was so happy to finally be IN the photos rather than just taking them. I narrowed it down, and here are a few of my favorites from the night:

Cake my roommate made :))

My roommate Amanda! 

Steven!

Eric, the photographer! :D

Geo and I laughing at something :p

Rachel, BRO :)

Mark and Rachel, MSU Quidditch represent :)

Jeffrey & Geoffrey :)

Jack <3

Haha, silly roommates!

Jeff!

Riah :)

Teagan!

Marianne! :)

6 West (Junior year)

5 East (Sophomore year)

Okay, I know, I know, it's a TON of pictures. But I told you I had fun, right? :)

It's a beautiful day for football!

OH MAN, HAD I BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY FOR SO LONG! :D

It was finally the opening day of college football season, and specifically MSU's first game! :D Jack and I had been reading Bleacher Reports for the past month (or more like he informed me of all of the important articles to read :p) and we were both so psyched for that first game!!

Not only was this my first ACTUAL football game (Note: 'actual' as in the first time I got to see pre game and NOT work parking for Special Events), it was also the first time I stood in the FRONT ROW OF THE STUDENT SECTION! My friend texted me earlier in the week and we made the spontaneous decision to wait out for front row seats instead of tailgating or whatnot. I ended up getting there at 11 am and this is what it looked like by 3pm:

Crazy, huh? We decided to take shifts because waiting 9 hours for a 3 hour football game is rough, but definitely well worth it. I made some pretty cool friends too! One of the other guys who was waiting in for the front row had been there since 8:00 am and he's been doing this for EVERY football and basketball game since his freshman year! That's what I love seeing: MSU sport fan dedication. :) And because we were there so early, we got interviewed by Boise State sports telecasters, and then by WXYZ Detroit! My mom said she saw our group on TV a ton that night, too! This is the group I was with the whole time, and definitely an AMAZING group to spend the day/night with:

The student gates filled up pretty fast after that though. Good thing we got there super early! 

The gates opened two hours before kick off, so we had to make a mad dash to get to the front row before every other line. But, thankfully, we all made it! I didn't even look at the new scoreboards until I secured a seat, but oh my goodness. These babies are BEAUTIFUL. Seriously, who couldn't love being at a football game when you can see every replay crystal clear?!

Jack and I in the front row. I'm super sunburned because I had been waiting outside all day since 11am. And it was soooo hot!

I didn't get any pictures DURING the game because I was far to engrossed in watching our Spartans BEAT BOISE STATE! It was a pretty close game for a while, but that last quarter was ours :) Can't wait until the next game at Central!

GO GREEN!

Summer days drifting' away.

Yesterday was the best first day of school that I've ever had. And that's the way it should be, since it is the beginning of my senior year and all. :)

I started my new job, went to 3/4 of my courses (don't worry the 4th class is a TuTh, so I won't have it until later today!), and was able to relax when I got back home later in the day. I'm taking four engineering courses this year: ME 332 Fluid Mechanics, ME 391 Mechanical Analysis, ME 440 Fundamentals of Aerospace Engineering, and ME 422 Intro to Combustion. This is going to be fun, right? Actually, I've been pretty psyched for these classes since the middle of summer when I was doing my engineering internship. It's just really awesome to see anything that I learn in school being applied to people's daily jobs! I think my favorite class is going to be my toughest (ME 332), but it's still pretty early in the semester to tell!

How was everyone else's first day? Were you able to make it to all of your classes on time and in the right buildings? Sometimes it's tough to navigate this campus, but (most) upperclassmen should be able to lead you in the right direction!

And like I said, I also started my new job! I'm an undergraduate mentor for EGR 100 Intro to Engineering this semester! I have to attend the 8am small group session (lab) every Monday, but I found out that my friend Ross is the other mentor of that class, so that'll make it a lot better! I have another section in the middle of the day on Wednesdays as well as open lab hours Wednesday nights, but overall, I don't think it will overwhelm me with taking up too much time. I'm actually really excited to meet the freshman and future engineers. Who knows if you'll ever get the chance to work with them? And it's also a fantastic way to promote Phi Sigma Rho, since we are an engineering sorority and all. :)

Time for my bakery job now! Luckily, I got my favorite shift this semester, decorating football cookies, so hopefully it'll make it go by fast! Can't you tell I just want it to be Friday at 8pm?!?!

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, and I'm feeling good.

Just got internet! I guess that means I should blog, right? I mean, I'm practically all moved in back at MSU! :)

But honestly, it feels so good to be back in East Lansing! I really missed it this summer, and it was even worse than last year because I wasn't even in Michigan to visit if I wanted to! I passed the Spartan Stadium and East Lansing exits on my drive up here, and it just got me more excited to FINALLY get back on campus! Even though classes start in two days and I have yet to get my books and figure out exactly how my school/work/Phi Rho schedule is going to work out, I'm SUPER pumped for this year to start. I can already tell it's going to be a good one.

The only thing that I DON'T enjoy about the beginning of the semester is all of the packing/unpacking. I just never knew that I could have so much stuff! I tend to accumulate more and more each year. Remember that picture I posted after my sophomore year of all the things I had to unpack for a summer back at home? Yeah, try adding another carload of things to that. 

You know what I am excited for though?!

FOOTBALL.

The first time I drive past the new scoreboards, my jaw dropped. I just cannot believe how GIGANTIC they are! Pictures do not do those screens any type of justice. I can't wait for the first game of the season, and I'm so happy it's a night game too! My friend and I decided that we're going to be in the front row, so we're getting to the stadium really early! I hope my 4 o'clock class won't interfere!

Guess I should go back to more unpacking. I hope everyone else has accomplished more than I have and are already moved in and ready for school!

Goodmorning and goodnight, I'll wake up at twilight.

Wow, now that my internship is over, this summer has been going by SO fast. Last week I was in Chicago and now I'm back home in Michigan.. And next week I'll be back in East Lansing! :D

So after my internship finished up, I flew to Chicago to surprise my boyfriend since he is still at his summer internship. I was originally supposed to be flying there Saturday and he was going to pick me up at the airport, but I decided to change my flight to get there a day early and show up at his doorstep. And oh boy, was he surprised! I was able to spend the whole week with him and we also go to go into the city that weekend! It was my first time in Chicago, so we ended up going to the aquarium, Millennium Park, and Navy Pier. Lots of touristy attractions, but it was fun nonetheless.

Unfortunately, Jack still had to work full time during the weekdays, so I lounged around his apartment and caught up on some school and personal things that I wasn't able to finish while I was in Oregon. When he got home from work, we walked around in the parks, explored the city, or just caught up on television shows and movies we had on our bucket list to watch! It was just really nice to spend time with him for a week after not seeing him for three months :)

And that leads me back to being in my hometown! I've been home for less than 48 hours and the living room is already filled with all of my clothes and college stuff and it's an absolute MESS. So my job over the next week is to organize it all and figure out if I need anything for the upcoming year! Hopefully this won't be too difficult, I want to make sure I can enjoy a little bit of summer before school starts up again! :p

Let's don't say goodbye, I hate the way it sounds...

“...so if you don’t mind, let’s just say ‘for now’.”

- See You When I See You, Jason Aldean

Today was my last day with Eaton for the summer. It’s bittersweet, and I truly mean that. I am SO excited to get back home to the mitten, to see my family and friends, to move into my apartment, to start school again and take classes that I know I’ll enjoy, and to get back to my sorority sisters so we can FINALLY become a chapter, but I’m also REALLY going to miss Oregon.

I have changed so much this summer, in so many ways. I never used to be comfortable doing new things alone, and I have never been away from my family and friends for so long and so far, but I’ve found out that I’ve come to really enjoy it. I met some pretty incredible people out here, and I was able to share those new experiences with them. I found out that I really like hiking and running, some things that I had never thought I would like, and I’ve fallen even more in love with camping and being outdoors than before. I now love to cook and look up crazy recipes with ingredients I’ve never heard of or tasted before, just to try something new on my palate for a change (pinterest.com is excellent for this by the way! I spent many-an-hour browsing for new recipes that I want to try, and some that I’ve made more than once because I like it so much).

I’ve learned more about what makes a successful business than what the majority of my peers learn in internships with other companies and other majors. I worked with all kinds of different people in different positions and learned so many new things from all of them. I feel like I was spoiled with my location though; everyone in Oregon is just SO FREAKIN’ NICE. Our Power Center has employees with some of the most professional yet relaxed relationships within the office and on the manufacturing floor. It makes for such a great working environment and promotes improvement and success in everyone’s everyday work. In my opinion, Eaton is so unique in this aspect, and that’s something I feel is especially important when seeking companies to work for full time. I would definitely consider working for them again, if they’ll have me! 

Also, this is what my coworkers surprised me with after my presentation to them today. It's a QA (Quality Assurance) sheet from one of the projects that I worked on, and all of the guys in my line and in the office signed it. I'm going to miss them so much. I can't wait to hang it up in my room next year. <3

 

And I’ll be back in this city before I know it. I did so much in the greater Portland and Orgeon/Washington area, but there’s still SO many things I need to do. My first stop will be the Power Center, though. :)

Overall, this summer was as close to perfect as it could possibly get, and that’s really saying something for how I felt three short months ago. It flew by, but at the same time, I’ve felt like it’s gone on forever. I guess I’m just ready to start another chapter in my life and hope that I take away all the best aspects of this summer with me.

A vital presentation.

(PREMIS: I was supposed to post this on Tuesday night, but got wrapped up in packing!)

Well, this is it. Tomorrow morning (5:32am) I’m getting on a plane that will take me to headquarters and so I can present on what I’ve been doing for the past three months. I wasn’t even nervous until today. And I don’t even know if it’s nerves or just eagerness to get everything wrapped up and packed up to make my way home.

I also figured out that I’m awful at practicing presentations. I’ve been stressing out all day over EXACTLY what I want to say during my presentation, because we’re only given a very strict 5 minutes to talk about what we felt were the most important contributions to the company this summer. That is NOT enough time. Especially when I tend to go on tangents in different directions and it takes me forever to try to get back to my main point. That is something that I definitely need to work on, and will hopefully get practice on for the future! I wish there was some way to automatically have better presenting skills. I know there’s classes on it, but I’ve never heard about how successful those really are..

Anyway, I need to finish packing and getting everything taken care of before I leave Oregon for a few days. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch some sleep on the plane back to the East Coast!

Wish me luck! (I need it!)

Ps. When preparing for a presentation, never write out and entire speech and try to memorize it. Everytime I try to think about what I wrote, I always get messed up and forget what to say. So don’t do that :)

Whistle while you work.

I think I've finally found my favorite type of community service: Habit For Humanity! I had the opportunity to volunteer earlier this week through the business I work for, and I had SO much fun, even despite the heat.

I've never been too handy (silly since I'm an engineer, right?) and I've NEVER worked on a house before, except painting, so it was an awesome first experience. There were five of us from Eaton, including the other Operations intern and my roommate, so we all got to "take the day off" from work and give back to the community. The job site we worked at was building a duplex, but it is still in its early stages of building, so we got to build and put up wall frames. I'm such an engineer, I think I had more fun reading the schematics than anything else. :P

I learned quite a bit, too, of course! I now know what "flushing" boards means and the actual definition and purpose of a "stud" and why it's important to build walls in certain ways, especially when there's two stories to the house. The main architect gave us some great tips on how to use basic tools too, like the best way to grip a hammer and all that kind of stuff. I imagine this might not be new to anyone else, but I definitely benefited from talking with him all day. That just means I'll be that much more prepared when it comes to working on my own house in the future :)!

Here's some pictures of the house we were working on and some of the things we got to do!:

Holding up the stairway wall before it's "tacked"

Holding up another of the walls we built

The front of the duplex! The boys put up the front walls!

Team Eaton :D

What we accomplished in 8 hours. It doesn't look like much, but it was a ton of work.

Because I had an incredible experience and so much fun doing Habitat, I think I'm going to start volunteering at home too! Anyone know of any places near East Lansing? 

Oh, did I mention I got to use a giant table saw and was trusted to cut studs to exactly the right lengths? :D