So the semester is real... hmmm

Hellllo there World,

I feel like it is time to play a little catch-up.... (school=crazy amounts of reading)

APO: I am really excited for this semester to get going.  Our pledge induction ritual was last night and we now have the spring 2011 pledge class :)  It's so hard to believe that so many of our members will be leaving us at the end of this semester!! :( Not looking forward to that at all....  Fortunately we have 10 brand spankin new pledges!! My friends, Sara and Alex, are the pledge educators this semester and I know they'll do a great job.  I'm nervous myself.  I really want to have get a bunch of fun events planned (I am the Fellowship chair) for the group and I just hope that I plan things well and just have organized, low stress, high fun, events.  Now don't forget, we are a service organization, promise!  Just today I went with four other lovely ladies to serve dinner at St Vincent's.  I'm really looking forward to the different service opportunities, it's always awesome to get a feel for new volunteer opportunities.  We really do have an amazing group and I am so fortunate to have such an awesome organization in my life.  Much more to come on this group.  What are some organizations that you recommend for service opportunities?  Do you have and favorite volunteer experiences?


Food: So have you been to Chino Bandido? No? Why not? Don't worry I can't judge.  I just went there for the first time tonight.  Man have I been missing out.  Are you hungry? Well you will be eventually and you should go check it out.  No really, DELICIOUS.  Mexican asian fusion.  It just sounds like a beautiful place does it not?  If I haven't convinced you yet, well you are crazy because that much hooked me, they let you sample their popular dishes if you are a first timer.  Awesome right?  Much less of a stab in the dark for a first time stop.  I am glad there are leftovers in my fridge (breakfast of champions).  Oh guess what!? I am going to be making Pioneer woman's BBQ Chicken Pizza  tomorrow for a little College Cuisine special (okay because I want it in my tummy, it sounds delicious alright?).  I am pretty stoked! 


Exercise: A necessary evil.  It feels good once it's over. What were you expecting something more in depth? eh Maybe later... 


Dreams: Lately I have been having exciting dreams.  My mom was sending me on a trip to the Bahamas (thanks mom!) with an old friend.  It was a last minute surprise and I literally had to convince her to give me ten minutes to pack rather than waste a bunch of money buying everything I needed once I arrived in the beautiful beach land.  Alas, I awoke in time for Stats.  NOT THE SAME!!!!  The next night I had a crazy dream that I was able to slide down this mountain completely unscathed and then spend time in the coolest museum ever.  Ancient artifacts abound and a random (but super awesome) Alice in Wonderland exhibit.  I cannot truly express how amazing this mountain museum was nor can I begin to convey how sad I was when I realized it didn't exist. sigh....   Luckily I am pretty uncultured and have plenty o amazing real life museums to check out once I have adequate funds.  Any interesting dreams to share? I love remembering dreams and I love hearing about other people's dreams. It's so awesome to hear these stories that don't have the boundaries of real life.  Dreams often make no sense when in the waking world and that's what I love about them. Oh and I have some super exciting dreams which makes up for dull times. 


Nutty (?) Professor: One goal as I entered this semester: have an open mind.  It seems simple, maybe to some silly.  I felt it was very necessary as I had become much more cynical and judgmental than I care to be.  Thank goodness I already had this attitude going in.  I have a professor that has obviously watched "The Dead Poet's Society" and "Freedom  Writers" and strives to provide us with a similar experience.  We are learning the functions of small groups by competing as a group in pretty much all aspects of the class.  Each group was assigned a chapter of the book to become an "expert" on. We then meet as a group in front of the class (you know, pretend the class isn't there NBD) and decide as a group which six terms from the chapter are worthy of learning and putting on the test.  The students observing the group meeting are each assigned to one of the group members and then must focus on him or her for the duration of the meeting.  I will admit that I was skeptical at first but this approach really is much more engaging than that of a normal lecture on different communication theories.  It is hard to tell how well this will go grade wise... I do have quite the dynamic group too.  It shall be an interesting semester.  I must say I love that this professor puts the same deep level of emotion into every class even though he basically gives us the same "inspirational" speech every single class meeting.  Ah well.... 

Best College Group Ever

 Hey There World,
    I am a sophomore at ASU.  I really do love college, but my first semester Freshman year was missing something.  Let me give you a little background.  In high school I was in Student Government, NHS, Theater (the best!!!), and I was pretty much busy all of the time.  I jumped into ASU ready to make new friends and just psyched for some new adventures.  I quickly realized that I just need to belong to some sort of club or extracurricular activity or I go CRAZY.  I was tempted to join a sorority (but they are pricey!!!) but I wasn't really sure that I would fit in or that I was willing to make the time commitment.  Greek life just didn't seem to be the fit that I was looking for (plus it's expensive!!).  I tried out a marketing club for one meeting, then I remembered that I HATE selling things and that I already attend enough lectures during the day..... anywho I obviously decided to keep looking.  My business 101 class required a trip to the business clubs' fair... nothing screamed out to me there either (mayhaps my ambition could use some revamping? I don't know but I wanted something that was more about fun!).  To be honest I didn't look very hard.  I perused the ASU's club website but that was the extent of my research.  Lucky for me a boy I was interested in (lame huh? We all do it, don't judge) was a part of a very small community service group, Alpha Phi Omega (APO), and coincidentally a girl that was in STUGO with me in high school was also a member.  I asked my roommate to go with me to the info meeting and we both decided to give this group a go.  The pledging process was very simple: weekly meetings, 20 hours of community service, 10 hours of fellowship, a test, and participating in planning a service, fellowship or fundraising event as a pledge class (oh and $80 MUCH CHEAPER than actually going greek.  Such a plus!!).  As it happens things did not work out with the boy (surprised aren't ya?).  Instead, I am pleased to say, I met one of my very best friends in the whole world.  She went to my high school and I was friends with her twin sister but we didn't become friends until last year. Weird how things work that way huh?  I am really thankful for APO though.  We have the opportunity to do so many different types of service, meet people we otherwise wouldn't have a chance to meet, along with a bunch of fun things that I probably would not get around to planning on doing myself.  Last semester we went camping, to a conference in Cali, and made out with a free night of laser tag (thank you ASU for the student funds).  Last semester I was Historian and Membership V.P. and this semester I am giving Fellowship V.P. a go.  I really help I can successfully plan some fun events!! This week is our rush week and I am so excited to figure out what group of pledges we end up recruiting.  I just thought I had better give a little background on APO because I'll probably end up talking about it time to time (or all the time, whatever...).  Plus isn't this just a fine looking group of people ;) ?
                                                                   -Not quite fratty  APO
                                                                    Andrea