Retreat on the Rock

Retreat on the Rock is a spiritual retreat that Rockhurst has once a year in the spring.  I have been told repeatedly that it is very similar to Kairos and TEC although I never had the opportunity to experience either of those retreats. Due to my lack of experience with this type of retreat, I did not know what to expect out of the weekend. I came in with an open mind and absolutely no idea what would happen. When we arrived at the retreat center, we started with a few ice breakers and were told to set goals for the retreat. On the Thursday before the retreat that I would be an RA in McGee (an all-girls residence hall) next year with one of my best friends, Sydney, and a couple other girls I did not know…yet, so my goal was to get to know them. Once our goals were set, we were given our small groups. The groups ranged from 4-6 people and we met with them every few hours throughout the retreat to reflect. Mine could not have been a better group of people if I planned it myself. I was friends with two of the girls already but we were not super close. I had wanted to reach out to both of them, but had never known when or how to do it. The other two girls were my future coworkers in McGee. You can imagine my excitement when the names were called out.

Throughout the weekend our group met nine times. I grew to love each and every girl. They all showed such strength as they opened up and shared their troubles with us. They are all so beautiful and they inspired me to be better. I will always treasure all the memories from the weekend in my heart. I encourage everyone to go on Retreat on the Rock if they get the chance because it is unlike anything else you will ever experience.

Snow days!

School has just resumed after two snow days in a row. We received over a foot of snow and the temperature was so low that the salt wasn’t doing anything to keep sidewalks and roads clear. My friends and I braved the weather yesterday to get some lunch and we realized exactly why the closed school. The roads were horrendous and we were sliding all over the place. Luckily we got home safe, but we probably should have stayed on campus.

All bundled and ready to go!

I was not as productive as I should have been over the past couple of days. As I said in my last blog, things have been crazy and I always find myself with a lot of work to do. But, instead of doing homework I spent a lot of time with the other girls on my floor. We went night sledding (which was such a blast) on a campus hill, watched movies, attempted to do homework together (which just ended with us looking up interesting quotes or pictures of cute animals on Pinterest), or freaking out about our RA interviews. The interviews for being an RA (Resident Assistant) have been going on for the past couple weeks and we were supposed to find out about whether or not we got the job on Monday or Tuesday. Well, we didn’t hear anything on Monday, so we were pumped for Tuesday; however, all of the schools offices were closed for the snow days. Word on the street is we should hear sometime today because they are open again. I haven’t heard anything yet and I am keeping myself from checking my email again until I am finished with my shift in the tutoring center. To be perfectly honest, this blog entry is the only thing keeping me sane.

Although I didn’t get a ton of work done, I needed the small break to just relax. Plus, snow days are way better in college. In high school, you can’t go anywhere so you are stuck at your house all alone unless your family is off too or you are lucky enough to be within walking distance of your friend’s house (which I was not). In college, you live with all of your friends and it is like a big crazy sleepover. It is fun to day the least.

Getting Busier by the Minute

Sisterhood event: Movie night

Things are absolutely crazy this semester. The past few weeks have been a lot of fun, but I am definitely doing enough juggling to be a circus performer. Just to give you a hint of what I mean, here is a little run down of my schedule; I am taking 16 credit hours (5 classes plus a weekly piano lesson that I have to practice for 30 minutes a day), there are new member meetings every week for my sorority, I am tutoring in our Learning Center 6 hours a week, there is book club every other Thursday, Pasta and Prayer is every Tuesday, choir practice is every Friday, Yoga class is every Sunday morning, Mass is every Sunday night, one Monday a month LIFT (ladies in faith together) meets, I have had to prepare for and execute an interview to be a RA and there is a follow-up group interview tomorrow, my birthday was a little over a week ago and I celebrated that with my friends, my friend’s birthday was last night so we went out for that,  I have had “penguin pal” dates with my sorority sisters, I was out of town last weekend for a funeral so I had to find ways to squeeze in homework, I try to call my parents pretty regularly, and I am trying to balance multiple groups of friends. The last one is a nice problem to have but it is still stressful. Now that I joined a sorority I want to spend time with my “sisters” so I can get to know them but I also have friends I made during first semester that I want to make time for also because they are wonderful and I don’t want to lose them. I also didn’t really mention how much time it takes to do homework but I’m sure that you, whoever you are, are either in school or have been in school before and you have some idea of what the work load is like.

All dressed up for Matt's birthday!

While trying to balance all this stuff my planner has been my absolute best friend. I know everyone says this but it is so important for me to write everything down. Even social events need to have a spot in there because if I forget one, people have a way of getting angry and then my stress level can increase even more. But another thing I’ve found important is relaxation time. If you have trouble making time for this one, write it down in your planner. Make it happen. If it doesn’t, you’ll get burnt out quickly and there won’t be enough energy left for all the things you love.

Birthday Festivities!

My friends and I in our party hats!

My birthday was a few days ago. Since I was turning 19 I was not super excited because there is not a whole lot you can do at 19. At 15 you can get your permit, at 16 you can get your license, at 17 you can get into R rated movies, at 18 you can buy lotto tickets and 19… nothing. But it turned out to be a pretty fantastic day. My friend, Amanda, painted a picture for me, Sydney wrote me a poem, and my roommate, Mary, made cute drawings that represented different bonding experiences or times together as roommates. I have only known all three of these girls for about five months, yet they all took the time to do something heart-felt and thoughtful. It really brightened my day.

To celebrate my special day, Mary and I ordered pizza and we opened my “Party in a Box”. Let me explain. My step-mom sent me back from break with a box which I assumed was a present, but she told me it was a “Party in a Box”. She was not kidding. It included SpongeBob party hats and noisemakers, a Happy Birthday sign, 12 pudding cups, princess coloring pages, silly putty, and a bunch of other fun goodies. We enjoyed that for about an hour and then headed off to see Frozen for SAB’s (Student Activity Board’s) $3 movie night that they have every month. It was my second time seeing the movie and Amanda’s SIXTH! She loves Olaf, the little snowman, and she sat there talking along with him throughout the entire movie. She was quiet so I didn’t mind.

                In addition to all of the festivities and crafty gifts, I received homemade muffins, two running hugs and a bunch of normal hugs. I know that may seem like a strange thing for me to mention, but it meant a lot. I have not been a RU that long, but I already feel like I have found a second home. I couldn’t be happier with my choice of a University and I can’t wait to see how the next three years go with this awesome group of students.

Sorority Schtuff!

My friends and I on BID DAY!

School has begun again and it is as crazy and fun as ever. Sorority recruitment happened a few days before school actually began and now anyone who jointed has started attending meetings, going to sisterhood events, and marking their calendars as the first formals of the New Year approach. I was honestly very surprised to find myself involved in Greek life because when I first got to Rockhurst I was totally against all things sorority. This strong aversion was due to all the stereotypes I had been exposed to through the media. In my mind, sorority girls were ditsy, thirsty, easy, and mean. Sound like an awesome group, right? Obviously, that was not the sort of crowd I wanted to be chumming around with, but Rockhurst proved me wrong on all accounts.

Amanda and I during Recruitment BINGO

                All of the sororities on campus have a GPA of 3.4 or higher and have some of the sweetest girls I have ever met as members. They are also all very chill and are perfectly fine with bowling or watching a movie on the weekends instead of going out and partying. I felt accepted by all the girls almost instantly without having to do anything to prove myself. Within the first two days, I had gotten over fifty friend requests and over thirty wall posts from my new “sisters”. The active members also encouraged all the new members to join them in the cafeteria everyday for lunch, if they could, to eat or just sit and talk. They honestly want to get to know us all.

I would encourage everyone to go through recruitment at Rockhurst because even if you do not think Greek life is for you, you may be surprised like I was. And even if you decide not to join at the end, at least you can say that you gave it a shot and that you met a few new people. I couldn’t believe how many people I already knew who were in a sorority and how comfortable they seemed to be with their “sisters”. Even more unbelievable is how at home I already feel after only two weeks.