Homecoming at Purdue!

I was just at Purdue for the past week, which was the end of homecoming week. It was so much fun. On Friday night I went to the Parade. A few of the Alpha Xi Deltas participated in the parade, dressed as the 1967 Rose Bowl Cheerleaders. They looked great. The chapter president, Alissa, was on homecoming court. She looked like she was having a lot of fun. It was cold out, but it was still a lot of fun to watch the parade.

After the parade, everyone headed to the outdoor arena for the pep rally. They marching band at Purdue is awesome, and we listened to them play a few songs before all of the big announcements were made. Alissa did not win Queen, but Alpha Xi Delta won overall! Out of all the fraternities and sororities on campus (about 60 of them), Alpha Xi Delta won the window decorating, had the most members participate in the blood drive, they were the only chapter to participate in the parade and so they won Spirit Week. It was very exciting!! I am so proud of them and for all of their hard work.

On Saturday, the chapter had Alumnae Day lunch in honor of Homecoming. After lunch, I spent the afternoon with a few of the chapter sisters painting 58 pumpkins for all of the other fraternities and sororities. We had so much fun! Then we went out to eat at Triple XXX, a famous restaurant that has been featured on the Food Network!

On Sunday, the chapter held a flag football tournament, Fuzzie Football, to raise money for a local children’s hospital. They had an awesome turn out, with close to 30 fraternities participating in the football tournament. The craziest part was that they did not have enough referees show up. They asked me to help out by keeping time and marking the line during every play. Ok, I did run the Dodge Ball and Other Ball Games Club during that first year I worked at the Y, but being the referee for a middle school flag football game is A LOT different then helping out with a college flag football game. It was intense when one of the games went into over time, 4 times, but the guys said I did a good job, and I had a lot of fun. We were at the football fields for 7 hours! Needless to say, I was a little wind burned the next day.

The rest of the week was great. I met with all the officers over the course of the week and did a program with the chapter on Values- based confrontation and effective communication. It was a very successful visit.

At the moment, I am on a plane headed to the University of Iowa. I am pretty excited for this visit. I will be there for a week and I will be assisting the chapter with their officer elections.

Everything is going pretty well. I know I keep saying this, but I cannot believe how fast time is flying by! It is almost November, and I feel like it was just last week when I was hanging out with my sister at Papio Bay trying to get a tan!
I hope you are all doing well, and that you’re staying warm! I miss you all. Have a great Halloween and I’ll see you in a few weeks!

All my love,

EK

Lessons Learned

I am more than half way through my first semester travels as an ELC! I am still loving it! Right now I am in West Virginia at West Liberty State College. It is so beautiful here! I literally up in the mountains and the leaves are all changing colors. Fall has always been my favorite season and being here just makes me love it more! When I walk outside it just smells like fall, so crisp and fresh. It’s a combination of the dry leaves and campfires, I just love it.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you all a little update of where I will be headed in the next few weeks. I meant to do that originally, but I forgot, so here it is:
Purdue University- October 22 to October 29
University of Iowa- October 29 to November 5
Lycoming College-November 5 to November 9
Slippery Rock- November 9 to November 12
Kansas State- November 12 to November 16
Omaha for the Concert- November 16 to November 18
Purdue University- November 18 to November 24
Thanksgiving Break in Omaha- November 24 to December 1
University of Central Oklahoma- December 1 to December 6
University of Iowa- December 6 to December 10
Fraternity Headquarters in Indianapolis- December 10 to December 14
Christmas Break in Omaha- December 14 to January 3, 2009

So, I went back and read my very first post. In it, I wrote about how I was excited about how much my life would change and all of the things I would learn over the next year. Well, I’m not even a year in, but I have already learned so much. I’ve come up with a list:

1. You can (and will if you have to) wash a few essential clothing items in a sink. My Grandma gave me these little laundry detergent packets made specifically to soak clothing in the sink. I honestly did not think I would ever need them, but last night I came to the realization that I have not been able to do laundry in a while, so I put those little sink packets to work! Thanks Grandma, they were a lifesaver!

2. Even if you are not a very good navigator and driver, you can become one! I did not realize I would be doing as much driving as I have been. I’ve never been the best driver, but let me tell you, I’ve had to improve my driving and navigational skills. Having a cell phone with internet access to mapquest.com and Google Maps has come in handy! Now I love driving! I get to see more and I get a little me time on the way.

3. Don’t take stores like Wal- Mart and Target for granted! Contrary to popular belief, not every town has one or the other, and when you are in the middle of nowhere or feeling homesick, walking into a Wal- Mart or Taget can make you feel like you are right in your hometown! I’m not sure if it’s because they are all set up the same, if it’s the smell or the people, but regardless, I always love when I can make a stop to one of these stores!

4. Even with all of this amazing technology, nothing can beat the thrill of getting actual handwritten mail. Being on the road, I tend to pick up my mail whenever I go through Indianapolis, so when I get my mail, I have a big pile of it. Everytime I go through my pile I get that same thrill I get on Christmas morning! I love it!

5. Plane rides can be considered a time to catch up on things such as sleep or reports. It can also be a great place to network. I was on a flight from Cedar Rapids, IA and I met the director of the education department at the University of Northern Iowa. He told me to contact him when I am applying to teaching jobs!

6. If you roll up your clothing really tight and pack lots of ligfht weight clothing, you can pretty much fit an entire closets worth of clothing into your suitcase! It is possible! I’ve also learned that Downey’s Wrinkle Release is one of the best inventions in the world! I may never need to iron again!

7. The easiest way to rev- up the same wardrobe is to accessories! I never thought I would appreciate a scarf, cute shoes, tights and jewelry the way I do now!

8. The best way to handle a stressful day is to do one of the following: call a fellow ELC/ LC to vent, call mom to vent, call Stef to vent or just listen to Carrie Underwood’s Lessons Learned or other inspiring songs! I’ve just learned to not sweat the small stuff and laugh about the crazy/ stressful stuff, after all, it’s all part of the adventure!

9. Never be afraid to try something new! Sometimes the best food you’ll ever eat is from the sketchiest looking restaurant in town!

10. The ones we love are never too far! I carry everyone’s love and support with me wherever I go, and I know you’re all just a phone call away! Thanks for all of your love and support!!

Where has the time gone?

I can not believe it is already the first of October! Where has time gone? I can’t believe I haven’t updated this blog in almost a month! I will say that life on the road makes time fly by! I am working in a new place every four days, so every four days I get to see new things, meet new people and do new things! I love it!

Since I last wrote I’ve done a lot! I left Purdue and headed to Wright State College in Dayton, Ohio. I rented a car and drove there from Indianapolis. Normally I fly everywhere, which I don’t mind, but I really enjoy driving! At Wright State, I met with all of the officers. They are really great women, and I really enjoyed working with them. After a few days at Wright State, I loaded up the rental car and headed to Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio, for their first weekend of recruitment. From Ohio University, I once again loaded up the rental and headed to West Liberty College in West Virginia. Ohio and West Virginia are such beautiful places! (It probably wasn’t the safest idea, but I was taking pictures out my window the whole time!) West Liberty is a beautiful little school up in the mountains. It was great to be there and help them out. I also had my teeth cleaned, because one of the women in the chapter is a Dental Hygiene major and she needed a patient at the last minute, so that was kind of cool! After a few days at West Liberty, I drove back to Ohio University for their second weekend of recruitment. They did a great job and they worked very hard! I have really enjoyed working with all of these chapters and in the next few months I will go back and visit them all again!

On Monday, September 22, I turned 22 years old. I also loaded up my rental car one last time, and drove almost five hours back to Indianapolis so that I could go to Purdue. When I got to Purdue I found that I had birthday cards from my family and a few of the girls in the chapter. That was very cool. I had a meeting with a few of the officers. At about 10:00 PM, Heather and Laura drove all the way from the Illinois, so I could spend my birthday with them. They brought me a card and balloons! We got a little lost in the country, so we headed back and went to Taco Bell and then a coffee shop for dessert! It was great to be able to see them! I spent the rest of the week assisting the chapter with CORing and meeting with the officers.

On Friday, I headed back to Omaha for a few days of vacation. I had a busy weekend, but it was great because I got to see a lot of people I’ve really missed! My dad picked me up from the airport at 10:00 AM and we rushed home so that I could get to my 11:00 AM haircut appointment. From there I went to my Grandma Padilla’s house so we could go out to lunch and go birthday shopping (something that we always used to do when we were little kids and now we’ve started doing it again!). I had a great time! Grandma and I had a lot of fun picking out outfits and walking around the mall. After that I met up with Kim, my boss at the Cooper Y (and life mentor and AXiD sister) for the last three years, so we could catch up on life. We ended up going to Stein Mart to do a little shopping, and we ended up buying matching jackets! It was so great to see her and hang out with her! Heck, I saw Kim almost everyday for the last few years, so it was good to catch up! Then on Friday night my friends Liz, Beth and Anita came in from Lincoln and we spent a few hours at Old Chicago hanging out and catching up. On Saturday, Beth and I got up really early and went to Lincoln for the Husker game. We hung out with some of her friends and tailgated, then we went to my family’s tailgate. We had a blast! It was just like the old days. Helen, Adam Hansen, Gilroy, Paul H, Sara, Ryan & Bryan all came to hang out. My Grandpa, Uncle Doug, my parents, the Katchems and a bunch of other family friends were all there. It was so great to spend the whole afternoon getting ready for the game. There was actually a mechanical Bull station next door to the tailgate. When Beth, Helen and I first arrived at the Krysl tailgate I said, I should ride that bull. After a few hours I finally worked up enough courage to ride the bull! I didn’t last very long, but I did it and it was fun. Soon after Beth decided she would ride it, then my sister, Stef, gave it a try, then Gilory and Hansen both rode the bull. It was pretty awesome!Even though the Huskers lost the game, my Stef and I had so much fun watching it and hanging out together during the game. It was weird for me because that was my first game as anAlum, meaning I was not standing the entire game in the student section. It kind of made me a little sad. But I still had a great time. After the game I went out with Helen, Beth and some of the guys who will be in Josh and Helen’s wedding (Beth and I are also in the wedding). We had a great time. Sunday was just as busy as the rest of the weekend! I sang at church. Then my mom and I met up with Andrea, Molly, Cathy and Linda for lunch. It was so great to see them all again and spend a few hours talking about life! Then I met up with my friend Shaun for coffee. We worked together as counselors at the Y four years ago, but we still always manage to keep in touch and talk about life. After hanging out with Shaun, I went home for a family party, to celebrate my Grandma’s 81st birthday, my cousin Jayme’s 12th birthday and my 22nd birthday. It was so nice to be able to hang out with almost all of my family!! Then Grandma Krysl, Grandma Padilla, my mom, Stef and I watched the season premier of Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters. I haven’t been able to do that in a long time, so it was nice to be able to do that. I had so much fun being home and seeing everyone!

Right now I am at the University of Central Oklahoma. This is where my good friend and fellow ELC, Winter, is from. It is so cool to be staying at her chapter and getting to work with her chapter sisters. These women have been so nice! I’ve been meeting with the officers and helping them with a little “pomping” for the homecoming float. (Pomping is when you take tissue paper and stick it through the holes of chicken wire, just so you know in case you didn’t.) I leave tomorrow and head to the University of Iowa. I will be helping them with their sisterhood retreat, which I am so pumped about! I love sisterhood retreats!

That’s about it for now! I will try to keep up with this more, so it doesn’t have to be so long the next time! I love you and miss you all!