I roll my eyes because I wrote them all a letter explaining the exact conversation we are about to have.
"South Carolina. I went to the University of SC."
"Oh that's cool. Is it (insert stereotype here) there?"
"No, not really..."
"Where do you want to live after this?"
"I'm moving to Charleston."
"Where's that?"
what I want to say...
"You've never heard of it? That sucks. It's a lot nicer than it is here."
what I actually say...
"The coast of South Carolina. Here watch this video..."
Now don't mistake me, most people I meet are wonderful. But there are those few that catch me with the wrong questions on a bad morning and I can't help but force them to sit through a YouTube video about the greatest city from the greatest state in the good ol' US of A.
This morning on my plane ride to Southern California from Moscow, Idaho (pronounced, moss-co, y'all) I was listening to my typical country music playlist and one of my favorites came on. "Little Miss" by Sugarland has been played loudly in my '97 BMDub (BMW, not so hip friends) since the summer of 2010 when I first heard it on the radio - but boy do those words mean something different now. This job is rough some days, and it's hard to have the get-up-and-go attitude when sometimes all you need is a Sunday afternoon and a hammock. If it has done nothing else for me, I will forever appreciate my weekends. But like with anything, I'll be okay. This is one of the coolest things I'll ever do, along with one of the toughest. I'm always "on", always going...like alwaysalwaysalways. When Jennifer Nettles sings, "Little miss, I'll take less when I always give so much more...Little miss, be my guest, I'll make more anytime that it runs out," I can't help but smile and be reminded of my year thus far. Then I belt out (in my head, of course, not to disturb the sweet lady beside me in 9A) "It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, I'll be alright again!" I swear I will conquer this whole life the sweet Lord has given me if I can just get through these next two months...with the help of a lotta prayer and a lotta Starbucks.
So where has my head been restin' these past few weeks?
Chapman University - Orange, CA
My home away from home for the semester. Chapman is our newest chapter, about 2-years-old, so they get extra lovin' to make sure they are staying on the right track. I couldn't be happier I got this assignment - talk about some pretty weather! I stay with a sweet family in Irvine, about a 15 to 30 minute (depending on traffic) commute to campus. The Murphys have been wonderful! And it is so fun that one of the daughters, Chandler, is my age and at home right now until she starts nursing school in May. I actually get to be a real person when I'm there and hang out :)
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| My very own bedroom? Heaven! |
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| A little blurry since it's from the car. Don't worry Mom, I was stopped. |
Elon University - Elon, NC
Past home to Emily Wise, a fellow consultant! So of course, they treated me so incredibly well. This is where I spent my Valentine's Day - which wasn't so bad when I got a special delivery of flowers from sweet Emily! I hung out with the house residents and their adopted "house cat" Poseidon, whom I love. As my mother can attest to, I would take in every stray if possible so I may or may not have encouraged Poseidon to come inside a couple of times. That's not against house policy is it? Oh it is? I apologize. Oops. It was nice to be close to home and not get the "Aw, that's so cute!" face every time I said y'all.
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| Beautiful flowers from Em :) |
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| Poseidon - highlight of my visit. Normal, right? |
University of Missouri - Columbia, MO
A quick stop to see our newest SEC friends was next! And boy are they pumped to join the best conference in the country - but who can blame them, right ;) I got a tour of their AMAZING rec center that looked like a grotto/cave/something really cool and got to experience a little cold weather before spending most of the month in sunny California. It was fun to be at a campus with Greek Life that reminded me a lot of South Carolina's. I even got to see their performance in the RAMS (Race Against Multiple Sclerosis) Lip Sync Competition - at which they kicked butt performing a rendition of Sister Act.
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| Mizzou's Memorial Union |
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| The Columns |
UCLA - Los Angeles, CA
I took a Friday/Saturday trip from Orange County up to LA to do a recruitment workshop with the women of the UCLA chapter. It was a super quick visit, but I still had enough time for a campus tour and a couple of dinners in the cool, Westwood area around campus. You know, the area bordered by Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, and Brentwood? Yeah, not nice at all. I will be returning to visit the Bruins again next month for a regular visit - and hopefully more time to explore the beautiful area.
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| Beautiful tile work at the UCLA house! |
University of Idaho - Moscow, ID
I took a trip up to Idaho this past weekend for another Reflections training visit like my one at Tennessee - only this time I was flying solo. Literally. I love doing Reflections visits though because schedules aren't packed 8 to 10 with officer meetings...just 9 to 5 with a workshop instead. And then a day free! A tease of a weekend, but I'll take it! I ate at several of their local dives, which were all amazing, and got to experience huckleberry barbecue sauce. One word: yum.
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| Administration building on Idaho's campus |
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