Life in a Hotel

My current place of residence: a hotel. No, I'm not a person a part of the corporate world traveling around living out of a suitcase or a musician living life on the road. I'm a Residence Director of a Panhellenic Hall at ASU which just happens to be a former Sleep Inn. Need proof?

Home Sweet APH

Does that work for you? Or how about the time expedia sent someone to my residence hall for their hotel reservation. "Ma'am, I am sorry but if you can't tell by the hundreds of college-aged girls running around and screaming, you do not have a room booked here for the night!"

And if you can imagine life in a hotel living with nearly 250 Greek women, there is never a dull moment. These ladies never slow down and always keep me on my toes. And if the women aren't enough, the building has a mind of its own as well. You never can tell what direction the elevators are heading. There is a industrial size kitchen on the main floor that looks like it is straight from a scene of The Shinning. And my boss and I just recently found out that the pool area has a retractable roof. With  everything else this building has, a built in sun roof is not surprising.

But with all the quirks and unnatural amount of estrogen, I really love the APH. I have learned a lot about Greek Life and how to work with such a specific and unique population. And I am blessed to have an incredible staff with women who make me want to become a better person and RD each day. So did I ever guess that I'd ever live in a hotel? No...but I'm so thankful I am! Proud to live in the Appalachian Power House!

I Heart Gameday!

It is finally tailgate season as ASU just had their first home football game of the 2011 season. (We won - woot woot!) Next to Summer and March Madness, tailgate season is my favorite season. 

Since my undergrad did not have tailgating, I still get overwhelmingly excited about hanging out in the middle of Raley parking lot with the other grad students from my program, playing Corn Hole (bean bags to those of us from the Midwest), listening to either "Dirt Road Anthem" or "Black and Yellow" on repeat, chowing down on burgers and hot dogs and ending the day with some great Mountaineer football! 

Plus, how can you not love game day when you get beautiful fall days and a stadium that has a view of the Blue Ridge Moutains in the background! 

So for most of the remaining Saturdays this fall you will find me in the "back of a jacked up tailgate" loving life and cheering on App State!

Looking Back...

Yesterday was the last day of Freshmen Orientation for the class of 2015 here at ASU. Since I had been working with Orientation all summer, I finally decided to go to their opening session just to see what it was all about. It was while I was sitting in the back dismissing the sign that says "No food or drink in the auditorium" and eating some Bojangles and listening to the Dean of Student Development and the Director of Student Conduct talk about discovering who you are and making college the best it can be, these thoughts of my college orientation all came flooding back to me. I could tell that there was this energy in the air as students were eagerly anticipating their next chapter in life: college. The thoughts of who they would become, the people they would meet, the classes they would take, I'm certain were frequent among many students. However, I'm certain the thoughts of what type of fun can I have, or what kind of trouble can I get away with, may have been more common than the previous inquiries. But being so far removed from that time in my life, it caused me to take a step back, reflect on what it was like for me and attempt to place myself back into their shoes.

When I went to orientation prior to my Freshmen year, it was the first time I actually saw the college I was going to be attending in just a few short weeks after. The first person I met was my crazy advisor who ended up being my professor for multiple courses I took throughout my career. Since I had enrolled in a private Christian college, he immediately took to quizzing me on the number of books in the Bible and asking all of these ridiculous questions which really caused me to doubt all I had learned during my VBS years. (If you're curious it's 66 total books.) I think that encounter left me so traumatized that the only things I remember after that point was awkwardly talking to some other students at lunch and finally figuring out just how much this private school was going to cost...thus doing the math, figuring out how much in loans I would be paying back... for the rest of my life!

While I really don't remember the details, I remember that eager anticipation of being on the brink of a new chapter in life. The unknown was exciting and scary as hell at the same time. But soon I was moving to a new place, onto a new adventure and had every opportunity to redefine who I was. I can only imagine that this auditorium full of future ASU students were now experiencing a similar feeling that I did back then.

Now looking back on my college years, I want to encourage all those students, and everyone else for that matter with this little nugget of wisdom: Don't just wait until the start of a new chapter in your life to redefine yourself or make it better than what it was before. Go after it with everything you have everyday you are given! In all areas of your life take chances, learn from your mistakes, and have some fun along the way!

Best of luck class of 2015! Go Mountaineers!