T.G.I.T.

Thank God it’s Thursday! I don’t what my deal has been this week, but I have been extremely tired…and it’s not even like I’m sleep deprived or anything. But with Thursday comes the blessed end of a more than stressful week.

If you need to get your life back together today with a caffeine fix,  it’s apparently National Coffee Day (I just learned this two seconds ago from one of my coworkers) and Mars (a super great/cute/hip coffee shop right on the edge of Drake’s campus) is having a 2-for-1 deal. If you go in order a coffee, you get the second one free! So, feed that caffeine addiction.

The area surrounding Drake’s campus has a number of cute little restaurants and are a great way to get your study-on, away from campus and without needing a car!

The Drake Homecoming game is also this Saturday at one p.m. (this is my last Drake Football plug, I swear) and I will be there writing the story for the TD. Other than that and a meeting for APO, my weekend is surprisingly blank. I can’t wait to sleep in a couple of days and catch up on AWKWARD. , the MTV show, which I love.

Tootles! Have a great weekend! 🙂

Monday, Funday

What is it about Monday mornings that make them so darn exciting? I think it’s that they are so awful, they make the weekend so much better. Did that make sense…? Alright, moving on.

This weekend was spent doing a lot of homework, both  my roommates have huge test-weeks, so I (in tribute to them) was doing all my homework for pretty much the whole week. When they’re studying this week, they’ll probably hate me because I already did everything that needs doing! Oh, well.

I also had a chance to go to the Pappjohn Sculpture Park, downtown. And it’s actually very cool, there were all these wedding parties and homecoming groups taking pictures and general public just wandering around, soaking up the beautiful day that was Saturday in Des Moines.

Sunday began the week-long festivities that is homecoming and Meredith is now painted various scenes from Disney movies (which is the homecoming theme). Rev up your school spirit and end the week with the Drake football game on Saturday at one o’clock!

Happy Monday!

Homecoming!

homecoming window painting

The preparations for homecoming are upon Drake’s campus! I know that the committee is working hard this year and trying to offer interesting things to do. They are holding a foam dance party in Olmsted, which has never been done on Drake’s campus and sounds pretty cool. So, the traditional window painting (for some reason, Drake students like to paint things…) is starting on Sunday!

There’s not too much else happening this weekend, expect a boatload of homework. What is it about teachers that they all decide to make huge papers/projects due or have big tests on the same day or even during the same week? It’s like there’s three weeks of down time and you’re thinking like hey, maybe this semester won’t be so bad. Then, BAM you’re running around so stressed out and you don’t even know how it happened. Well, that ends my little rant for the day. Hope you guys are having a better week then I’m having…

Autumn

Autumn is my favorite season, but this Fall has started out remarkably chilly…not cool. Anyway, soon the leaves will start changing and Des Moines will be at it’s prettiest…awww.

But, for all my oohing and ahhing it’s another Monday morning. Exciting stuff, right? My classes have been pretty easy up to this point, but it’s merely the calm before the midterm storm. With Fall Break fast approaching (yay!), so are midterms! (not so yay.) So on that note a few study tips:

~only study with your friends if you are able to

~work in groups for exams that you have taken extenstive notes to study for, chances are you missed something, somewhere along the way

~don’t overextend, sleep is more important than studying for that last hour (Believe me, when you miss the test altogether because you overslept, it will be worse than if you had gotten up in time. I may have done just that freshman year…don’t tell my mom…)

~eat right (Bananas will do a lot more for your brain than Doritos)

~study in short stints, that way you remember more

~be confident! If you went to class (and if you have a good professor) then you know you know the answers.

Alright, enough of my lame suggestions. Good luck to you guys will all your studying.

Lazy Weekend

So today I was being super domestic! I ran errands all morning, including going to the store and buying all the things for making chocolate chip cookies and banana bread (my roommates and I had some bananas that were ready). Luckily, my mom makes amazing chocolate chip cookies AND banana bread so I had great recipes to use. With the house smelling like a bakery, my roommates and I got some hardcore cleaning done.

Now, I’m exhausted and watching the Iowa State football game and finishing up some homework. Tomorrow will be a much more intensive homework day and there’s also the Drake football game on Saturday at 6.

One other thing I’d just like to point out to my readers. The website Living Social. This site complies all of the great things to do in Des Moines and includes coupons to go to the cool places for cheaper. It is really amazing and I suggest all of you check it out.

Well, hopefully all you guys have a good weekend and come to my house if you’re in need of baked goods!

Studying Abroad

καλημέρα! (This is Greek for “good afternoon” and is pronounced: “kalimera”)

Most of you are probably wondering why I started this post off with a Greek word, right? Well, I spent my last semester abroad and I want to encourage all of my readers to do the same. I know there was a study abroad information session yesterday in Olmsted, and if you didn’t go shame on you!

Just kidding, if you didn’t go there are other ways to get the information you need to spend a semester, a year, or however long you want to spend experiencing another culture.

Jen Hogan, in the international studies office at Drake, is a godsend. She and the other members of the staff there will make sure that you get all the information and help that you need to study abroad. It’s also helpful to talk to a person that’s visited the place you wish to go. Drake students are usually super friendly and always willing to help. I know if somebody asked me about Greece, I’d try to answer all their questions and get them excited to go.

One other avenue is DUIT (Drake University International Travel). This is a group on campus that is dedicated to sharing study aboard stories and they welcome anyone to their meetings.

Happy Hump Day!

PS- Don’t forget the home Drake football game on Saturday at six o’clock! Look for me in the media booth!

Alpha Phi Omega

Okay, back to regular length weeks. Labor Day was a nice break, but it’s sadly over now and we’ll be going everyday until fall break (Which is the 17th and 18th of October and I’m counting down the days. Kidding…).

Parents weekend is this weekend and there’s another home football game against Missouri S & T on Saturday.

Yesterday, I had APO (Alpha Phi Omega) initiation. I know I talked about this before, but now I’ll be a little more in-depth. APO is a service fraternity on Drake’s campus. They specialize in organized volunteering, but they also hold several social events for their members. As of now, I’m officially a pledge and our activation ceremony happens sometime before the end of the semester. I have to complete various requirements before activation, but they look very doable. The other members were also very nice and I was surprised to see a lot of people I already knew!

I think that’s it for so early in the morning, but check out the TD for my football story and have a good week!

Blink 182 Concert

Blink 182

Around Drake’s campus, there are usually student discount opportunities. A couple of my friends and I took the opportunity to go see Neon Trees, My Chemical Romance, and Blink 182 at the Wells Fargo Arena. And it only cost us $25, instead of the original $50 or so. The concert was amazing and Blink played a great set. I screamed so loud that today I have pretty much no voice, which is really annoying, but worth it.

Today, we had a lazy day of doing homework and watching movies. It was a good way to start off the weekend and I’m sure the rest of the weekend will be equally exciting. There’s the Drake Football game tomorrow at 6 (be there!) and then I have my first APO meeting of the year on Sunday, time to get initiated. But, more about that later.

Hope everybody has a good weekend, try not to do too much homework!

Drake Football

Hey Bloggers, I had a lot going on in the last couple of days. Craziness, but in my haste I forgot to tell you about how golfing went.  We (four of us girls) went to the Grand View Golf Course (which looks a little jank right now, because they’re renovating). It costs us 22 dollars to walk nine holes and rent clubs. Be sure to bring your own balls, otherwise those cost a dollar a piece used or 1.50 for new ones.

But on to other business. If you haven’t heard, there’s a home Drake Football game this weekend. I love watching football and the Drake Stadium is great.  I only wish that more students would go the games, because then it would be more fun. The stands are hardly ever full and it’s a little depressing to sit in them with so much space around you. And I know everyone says that the football team is horrible, but we’re actually quite good. So don’t listen to them.

I am actually a little nervous about the game, because I have just been assigned to cover the football games for the Drake newspaper, The Times-Delphic. Although I’ve written for other campus publications, I’ve never covered a sport’s story…so wish me luck! And I hope to see all of you on Saturday at the game!

Go Bulldogs! (Lame and cheesy sign-off, I know. Sue me.)

Working on Campus

There are several jobs to had on campus, from working in the cafeteria to at a front desk in a residence hall. I hold one of these amazing jobs: at the library. Cowles (which is pronounced Kohl’s, like the department store, no matter what your tour guide may have told you) Library is one of the more beautiful buildings on campus (in my opinion, which is probably marred by the fact that I love libraries). Cowles is separated into areas of quietness, so that you can study in the level of volume that most suits you. It has have a very convenient (inconvenient to my wallet and my waist-line) cafe where they serve Starbucks’ products. Computers and printers can also be used by students.

 

Cowles Library

I work with a number of amazing people and get to spent time in a place I love (if you haven’t noticed by now, I’m a little bit of a word-nerd). I know some of you might not prefer the library over some of the other avenues of employment on campus and that’s okay too! There are many different ways to be employed by the university. I would advise this, because they are especially good about holidays,  understanding finals and those sorts of time issues.

In fact, I’m headed to work right now. So, if you see me sitting at the help desk, feel free to say hello!

Happy Monday (sort of!)