Search results matching tags 'Greek life' and 'Kappa Kappa Psi'

Race to the finish

ChristinaL — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:34:00 GMT

Hello everyone! What a CRAZY week it has been... I have alternated between nights of almost no sleep, trying to meet deadlines, and then nights when I slept for nine or even eleven hours straight, trying to catch up.

Here's is what's keeping me busy:

1) Course scheduling: I think this actually gets harder as an upperclassmen when I get to register first! The reason? SO many upper level classes are in the late afternoon/at night. Great for sleeping in. Not great for the fact that they overlap and I have to make tough choices about what to take.

As of right now, I am signed up for Philosophy of Feminism (requirement for my Gender Studies minor), American Women's Writing (my research seminar for English Lit), Hispanic Masterpieces (300-level survey course for my Spanish major) and Media & Cultural Criticism (will count for Gender Studies... but I'm mostly taking it because this is something I can see myself using in my writing career. For example, last night I went to a play downtown and I'm working on a review for it for my NUVO internship right now).

I know that's not a lot of classes (only 12 credit hours), but I can also get 3 credit hours for writing my honors thesis. I think it will be a good idea to block aside that time so I don't get too stressed writing my thesis! There is also a program I am considering where I could be a "writing fellow" and assist a professor with teaching their First Year Seminar class (part of the core curriculum) and help out the first year students with adapting to college writing. I already do this for my job as a Writer's Studio tutor, but it would be nice to get some classroom experience in case I decide to go to grad school and have to teach undergrads.

2) Volunteer work: takes up time... but is definitely the stress relief in my busy schedule.

For my Panhel position, I have been advising a group of new sorority members from all the houses called Junior Panhel. They have been hard at work planning a week of service projects and they went so well. We focused on helping different groups - on "Animal Day," sorority members went to the Humane Society and Animal Care & Control. On "Elderly Day" we went to nursing homes, and on "Kids Day" we went to after school programs. I volunteered for one of the nursing home projects and it was SO much fun! We did a craft with some elderly ladies and got to talk with them. They really love having activities scheduled in their days, and I like getting advice from people who have seen it all. My craft buddy, Pat, wants to tell all the women out there that it is VERY important to get a job with your own benefits - don't rely on a husband's benefits to support you in your retirement. Good advice! It was also so much fun to meet some Greek women from other sororities that I didn't know before. It was awesome that we could all come together and make new friends while supporting a great cause. Snaps to the freshman women who planned these excellent opportunities!

On Friday, several brothers from my band fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi, spent the evening remodeling our band storage room in Hinkle Fieldhouse. We had to dismantle the old shelves, carry the heavy scrap wood a long way to the dumpster, and then build the new shelves that we had raised money to order. It was definitely a learning experience... we had three shelving units to assemble, and we did each of them in a different way! It took a while, but we were really proud to have finished this project - it will be a huge help for all the band and cheerleaders who use this room regularly. Here are some before and after shots:

3) HOMEWORK! There is so much to do!

I have spent a good chunk of this weekend (whenever I wasn't catching up on my sleep) reading and doing research. I am reading novels for two of my literature classes and a very dense history book. It is fascinating though, because it's about immigrant working women in New York who organized all the factory workers to demand unions and better wages and rights for working women. I am also in the middle of doing research on these women, because I'm writing a big paper about how these women contributed to the women's suffrage cause. They were very inspirational ladies! If this interests you, I recommend the book we're reading: Common Sense and a Little Fire, by Annelise Orleck.

So, these things have been keeping me busy, and I have a meeting and event packed week ahead of me. April at Butler is always crazy busy, but a good time. I hope I can keep a decent balance between work, fun and sleep this week/ For now, I'm going to get back to that theatre review, find some dinner and then more research/reading.

To my high school senior readers, I know that this can be a stressful time in your life, too, as you try to make a college decision, so if there are any questions I can answer for you, please send me a message or comment here. Good luck!

A YouTube Weekend

ChristinaL — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:34:00 GMT

Hey there friends! [Now that you've started commenting, I feel like we know each other ]

People on the forums are always wanting to know what a typical weekend at Butler is like, so I thought I'd give you a rundown of one AND use this opportunity to feature some of the videos I took around town with our exciting new blogger's Flip camera (extremely fun little camcorder).

The videos are actually from two weekends ago, but I'll give you the play-by-play of last weekend because that's easier to remember.

Friday

9 am - 1 pm: Class!

Yeah, I'm a loser. I have class on Fridays. But it's Modern Dance, Revolutionary Europe & Postmodernism, so not too bad.

2 pm - 6 pm Meijer Run & baking party at Schwitzer.

My sorority matches us each up with a different new member (our "Phi friend") every week so we can get to know the new class better. My Phi friend Michaela and I decided to go all out and bond by making our own fortune cookies for all the freshmen Pi Phis. We bought supplies at my fave grocery store, the 24 hour Meijer on 38th St and then cooked in the kitchenette in Michaela's dorm. I never knew you could make your own fortune cookies but they turned out really cool.

If you're curious about the other shopping and restaurants near Butler, I made a quick video tour of some of the places to eat and shop on 38th St, about 5 minutes away from campus and let you in on informal Kappa Kappa Psi bonding at Steak n Shake

[YouTube:gZ7HPB3-IV0]

6-7:30 pm Dinner at India Garden with my best friend.

Broad Ripple is a fun place about 8 minutes away from campus with TONS of restaurants... India Garden is great if you're looking to try something new - spicy, but tasty! I recommend it.

7:30 - ? Chillin at the house.

Our friend Bethy came to visit from IU, so my roommates and I hung out with her for a while. They wanted to go out to eat, but since I had already gone out and was really tired, I decided to chill at home and get caught up on my crazy life - so relaxing!

? - 3:30 am LOST Slumber party

My roommates and I have gotten hooked on the dvds of this TV show. We stayed up WAY too late finishing Season 1 and I fell asleep during episode one of Season 2.

Saturday, February 3rd

11:30 - 1:15 Honors Program Info Session

It was a Scholar's Forum weekend here at BU, so we had lots of prospective students visiting. (Any of you reading?) I helped out with the info sessions about the Honors Program, because I think it's way cool and every one who's eligible should apply!

1:15-4 pm Women's Basketball Game w/ Basketball Band

I love Butler Basketball, being in Hinkle Fieldhouse, and of course playing with the band.

Here's a video with clips I took during the Men's game vs. UIC on January 26th. Check it out to see how much fun game day at Hinkle is!

[YouTube:qrGfrka4AQU&feature=related]

4-6:45 pm Homework & getting ready to go out

6:45 - 8 pm Dinner at La Piedad Mexican restaurant with some KKPsi friends.

Back to Broad Ripple! It's kind of unusual for me to eat out in Broad Ripple twice in once weekend, but we were all dressed up so we decided to splurge.

8-10 pm Swing Night!

Kappa Kappa Psi, my band fraternity, hosted Swing Night as a fundraiser/event for the whole campus. We had swing dance lessons and then live music from the Butler Jazz Band. Ballroom Dance Club showed up and impressed us all with their crazy moves. I even convinced my friend Zak to give swing dance a try and he LOVED it (...you never know, boys!)

10 pm-1 am Phi Psi

My "little brother" from Kappa Kappa Psi just pledged a social fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi. I'd never actually been over to the house, so he gave us a tour and then we joined in on the dance party. No worries if you're like me and don't drink... I still have a good time talking with people or dancing (like a fool).

Sunday, February 4th

2 pm Time to wake up!

Oops... I must have been REALLY tired! I normally get up around 10 am on weekends to get things done, workout, etc. but I fell asleep before I even had a chance to set my alarm and slept for TWELVE straight hours... Not gonna lie, that's probably the latest I've ever slept in.

3-6 pm Work at the Writer's Studio

I have a job at Writer's Studio, which offers free peer writing tutoring for Butler students. Nobody came in on Sunday, though, so I caught up on some reading for history and my poetry class. and got paid for it : )

6-8 pm Dinner at home, hanging with my roomies, a little homework.

8-? pm Superbowl party at Lambda Chi Alpha

One of my friends invited me to watch the game with the men of Lambda... I assumed there would be more girls there but I was very much in the minority. Let me just say that football in a fraternity house = a MAJOR dose of masculinity! Not that I don't like football... I mean, how sweet was that game?? Of course we were all rooting for the Giants because of a) Manning #2 and b) the fact that they are not the Patriots. Yay for Colts country : )

For once I was actually done with all my Monday homework before Sunday night so I went to bed early! Good thing, too, because I decided to try out a 7:45 yoga class at the HRC the next day (great way to start the week, by the way.)

So, that's basically it! A peek into my weekend life. Every weekend here is different...usually I don't go out to eat or hang out at fraternities quite that much; sometimes I spend way more time studying; sometimes I go to lots of performances; sometimes I'm travelling or doing stuff around Indy and I'm not even at Butler that much. It just depends on the week! However, I hope you see that there is a lot to do here and we're always having a good time.

Until next weekend! : )

2007: A year in pictures

ChristinaL — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:00:00 GMT

You may think I put tons of pictures up on my blog, but for every one I post, there are hundreds more on my computer. To celebrate the end of 2007, I picked out some of my favorite shots that you haven't seen before. Enjoy!

Bell tower in the snow, February 2007.

Snow day! The guiding spirit of our music fraternity was named Boh, so we made a Kappa Kappa Psi themed "Boh-man".

Our student foundation is known for our rugbies... but we stole the idea from University of Wisconsin. Our conference in Madison was a blast - it's such a cool city and we loved hanging out with the UW students!

KKPsi hosted Salsa Night last year - here's two of my friends dancing. At Butler, we love ballroom dancing (everyone's favorite PE credit!)

In front of the house with my Greek family after I got initiated into Pi Phi.

Sweet 16 game vs. Florida! Butler showed it on a massive screen in Clowes hall. We may have lost, but we're winning in this picture

When our team arrived home from the Sweet 16 in St. Louis, we were there to cheer for them when they got off the bus.

Sigma Nu's World Vision Bowl (sorority football tournament) is one of the most popular Greek events all year. Check out our team captain getting tackled in the middle! Those girls were intense!

All the music & dance fraternities & sororities teamed up this year for a pirate-themed formal. Everyone else pretty much wore normal dresses and suits, but three of my friends who were the DJs for the evening really got into it.

At our District convention in Cincinnati, my Big Big Big Brother Eric won the highest award a collegiate member of KKPsi can get! We were so proud. It was an exciting convention because my big brother (and blogger) Alex was elected district secretary/treasurer, our former chapter president Jeremy was elected district president, and our chapter was selected to host the next convention in Indianapolis! I feel so lucky to be part of such an outstanding group.

So my friend Julie was studying abroad last spring in Australia, but before she left she had a life-size cardboard cut-out made of herself! We took it to all of our KKPsi events and tagged "her" in all our photos of so she could see what we were up to. In this shot, she's hanging out in Cincy with us. Only Julie...

The American Cancer Society's Relay for Life is a huge event at Butler and so much fun. Last year some of my friends and I dressed up our buddy Paul for the Miss-ter Relay beauty competition. Makeup, shaved legs, panty-hose, jewelry... "Paula" was the real deal. She raised a bunch of money for cancer research and so we won the competition!

Once upon a time, we were cleaning out the band storage room in Hinkle when we found a box. My friend Nate said, "Hey, I can use this!" He took the box home over winter break, and when he came back... Boxbot was born! After that, many late nights were spent doing Boxbot photo shoots around Ross Hall...oh the freshmen dorm life. Nothing like it!

I know this isn't the greatest quality picture, but no record of 2007 would be complete without Steak n Shake. This photo is from a special trip with my "family," but I think we went about once a week. Oh frisco melts - how we love thee!

Finals Week - Spring 07. Somebody soapified Star Fountain!

I absolutely loved my freshman dorm room in Schwitzer. I was so sad to leave it that I went on an insane picture taking spree during the last week of school. It was pathetic... but now I can probably do a great blog post on what a Schwitz room looks like!

I spent my summer performing with the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps from Casper, Wyoming. We toured the whole country and performed 3 or 4 times a week - so much fun. Here's the colorguard, aka the people I spent ALL my time with and love soooo much! Most of them are from Texas... I miss them!

Check out how tan I was by the end of the summer!

Even though I was all over the country this summer, I never felt too far away from home because there were always Butler friends around. Chris (the guy in the BU sweatshirt) is a drummer who marched with me for 2 summers in a row (and helped convince me to go to Butler!). Evan, in the middle, is also a music major at Butler and is the drum major for a different corps from South Carolina. This photo was taken right after he was named best drum major of all the corps in the nation! Go Bulldogs! : )

Drum Corps International Championships were in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl this year, so we got a day off to enjoy Cali. We spent an afternoon at Santa Monica Pier where MTV happened to be filming an episode of Next (see they bus behind us?) And yes, it is as fake as it looks on tv. The producers tell all the people what to say!

"Make new friends but keep the old"... even though I'm not home very much, I'm still close with some of the same friends I've had since junior high. Ashley (who goes to Augustana in IL) and Sarah (who goes to GWU in DC and took this picture) and I had a campout on my back porch before we all headed back to school in August.

Back at Butler, finally! Block Party is my favorite part of Welcome Week because you can find out about all the awesome student organizations. Here I am at the Butler Student Foundation (BUSF) table with Forrest (president) and Sara (secretary).

BUSF always helps out with Homecoming and this year Kate and I worked at Blue's Family Fun Fair - of course we had to test all the games ourselves before the kids got there!

My Big Sis Ariel was our Homecoming Queen candidate for Pi Phi. Here we are at the football game - she's the greatest!

Living up my nineteenth birthday with two of my best friends, Amy and Betsy.

Pi Phi and Sigma Nu teamed up to plant trees for Keep Indianapolis Beautiful this fall and had such a blast. My friends Jon, Ariel, Ross and I were an amazing team - we planted four trees and named them all after characters from Finding Nemo. This is Sharkbait!

Fall at Butler is so beautiful! I love our campus.

One of my favorite things about being a sophomore is getting a Little Brother for KKPsi. I first met Jimmy at camp when he was 16. Last year when I heard he was looking at Butler I was so excited that I did everything in my power to convince him to come here. Not only did he choose Butler, but he joined my fraternity and now he's my little!

The BUSF exec board puts so much hard work into creating a great experience for Butler students, alumni and prospectives, so it was so sweet that our advisor rewarded us by taking us along to Chicago to help with her conference. These three people with me are some of the most involved student leaders at Butler and I admire them all so much. I feel so lucky to consider them great friends, too!

Basketball was one of the greatest parts of 2007, and it looks like 2008 could be even better! "DAWG POUND! wooooooosh!"

Wow, 2007... my first full year at Butler and such an amazing one. So many great people, good memories, late nights, long days, and fun times.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful 2008 and that I'll see some of you at Butler this year!