Welcome to my Junior Year - Welcome back to ROCK Reality! This past weekend, Slippery Rock University welcomed back its returning students and incoming freshmen. The summer has come and gone, but not without a little excitement. Between working five jobs and taking two vacations, I barely had any time to sleep! You can check out my two vacations, along with the tons of other fun things I did by watching my complete summer wrap-up video coming soon to ROCK Reality!  I am sure you will all thoroughly enjoy it.

September 3, 2008

Putting Your Own Touch on Your College Experience - Every year, hundreds of thousands of students will graduate high school and look forward to re-creating themselves, if you will, at college in the fall. Kids want to have a style all their own, to stand out, and to be noticed. The best place to start putting your own touch on your college experience is your dorm room. I can remember when I first walked into my dorm room in Watson Hall this year, I had the same feeling that I had at the start of my first two years. . .these white walls and generic looking rooms are not going to work. So, like in previous years, I went out and bought posters and plastered them all over the wall. My roommate, Kevan, and I rearranged all of the furniture; we stacked our shelves, bunked our beds, bought a black light, contemplated purchasing a disco ball, and did anything and everything else we could to have a little fun with our room set up.

     Your dorm room will be your home for the next nine months, so you definitely want to make sure you are comfortable in there. I remember the first time I called my dorm room my home, it actually took me by surprise. I was walking home from Weisenfluh, one of the on campus dining halls, and I said, "I have to go to the library to meet my group for a project, then I'm going to head home." I stopped and thought about what I just said because I never thought I would refer to anything else, besides my house in Pittsburgh, as my 'home' until I got married and moved to Italy. Regardless of how many places you like to call 'home,' Slippery Rock University will be your place of residence for the nine months per year you are here, and nothing says home sweet home like putting your own special touch on your college dorm room.

September 15, 2008

Preparing for NODAC and Birthday Celebrations - Only forty six more days until I will be flying to Boston to present at the National Orientation Directors Association Conference (NODAC) with Robert.  Although it seems like such a long time away, there is much work that needs to be done prior to our departure.  We have spent the past few days planning out our entire Powerpoint presentation, slide by slide, and we have watched our program come together quite nicely.  Before you know it, I will be on a plane to Boston, presentation in hand, preparing to speak to 100 different university representatives from all over the country.

     Also, I was fortunate enough to celebrate my twenty-first birthday this past Sunday with a few of my friends.  There are dire consequences that come with messing up on your twenty-first birthday. For me, at least, I would have to deal with the police, my parents, and my boss, and I do not know which one would be worse.  I would not be able to get my teaching certification, so I would have to deal with my parents yet again; so I did my absolute best to use my head this weekend. People have been telling horror stories about their twenty-first birthdays for as long as anyone can remember, but if you are smart, safe, capable of making good decisions, and trust your friends, you should not have a problem at all. My advice for anyone turning twenty-one is this: just be sensible. If you feel like you have had enough, let your friends know and they will take care of you. A twenty-first birthday is a landmark day in everyone's life that should be remembered and spent with close friends and family. 

September 29, 2008

Finalizing NODAC and College Adventures - One month from today Robert and I will be presenting our NODAC speech in front of hundreds of college directors and students from around the nation.  Today I put the finishing touches on the Powerpoint presentation which has been coming along great!  Later this week and next week, Robert and I will be developing handouts to give out to all of the viewers of our presentation.  It has been proven that people like free stuff...so that is what we are going to give them.

     College is a time for study and homework, but it is also a time for fun, adventure and exploration.  When students at Slippery Rock University hear adventure and exploration, thoughts of a midnight Sheetz run, or going to Camelot's at five in the morning may come to mind. But this, however, is not what I have in mind.  I am thinking of a road trip.  Road trips are always exciting and can be fun if the they are with friends and planned well in advance.  I was talking to one of my friends last night, and he has a good friend from home who goes to the University of Michigan.  I did a little bit of googling before bed and found that Michigan has a rather large Delta Chi population.  I brought this up with my friend, and since he would like to see his friend, and I would like to visit fellow Delta Chi, and neither of us want to do the trip alone, the adventure was planned!  It is now time to save for gas and stock up on food, and before you know it we will be hitting the open road.