And then there was Founders Week!

That Monday was very hectic. I did breast cancer donations and passed out handbills for Alpha Omega’s Founder Week in the morning, Spanish class in the afternoon and that night I went right back to Detroit for work. The crowd there was all eager and excited that we had driven the distance just for them.

Tuesday after classes was bowling for only a dollar at a bowling alley 10 minutes from campus. It’s been a year since I bowled and it showed! My “high score” was only 84. Yikes. Luckily the competition wasn’t really intense.

Then began the slew of exams (dun dun dun duuun….)

Wednesday was the Spanish exam which was actually hard!  Ugh. That night was the collaboration of our women’s and men’s group bible study. It was super incredible to physically see people’s lives change in such a short amount of time. It was definitely worth all the hard even if the rest of the week didn’t go well. Gratefully it did!

Thursday was my least favorite day. I had two exams at 11:00am and 12:30. That was just not fun. But hey, one must work then play. And that night I definitely played my heart out! Next door to our informational was the meeting for the Latino student alliance. So afterwards I had a chance to talk to a couple people about it and they invited me out!! My heart skipped a beat. I can’t wait until next week when I can attend the meeting.

Friday was originally the day for AO’s skating party. But because everything fell through we decided that all of the members that lived in Kalamazoo should get together to celebrate our founder. We went to Mongolian Buffet and MAN!!! It was so awe-inspiring!! It was like Valley II (the stir fry specialty dining hall on campus) on steroids! The only thing it was missing was the fire like the hiboche grill has.

To cap it all off, (besides everyone coming to our covering church on Sunday) Saturday we raked leaves for the elderly and/or “sick and shut” in. For me it was really nice. Yeah I know it sounds crazy but, it reminded me of the times when I lived on the corner lot and my nieces, nephews and i would get up early and rake leaves together. Ahhh good times. Different organizations on campus gave us a hand as we did jus a little something for our community.

One day I was walking to Trimpe (the Multicultural Center on campus) and I ran into an event! I was in the area getting my paperwork from my advisor who had just approved all the classes I want to take in Australia!!!! Whoooyeeah! An amazingly talented poet had come to campus to share her “controversial” poems and her life experiences with us. Before she got started I had a chance to experience authentic Middle Eastern food for the first time. Honestly, I LOVED it! I’m glad I decided to open my horizons. After she finished her poems I decided to get a book and she signed it for me! I wished I could have seen her perform at Fire (a restaurant in downtown Kalamazoo) but I was headed out of town.

Speaking of heading out of town, Alpha Omega’s Sister Weekend 09 was a ridiculously, crazy and insane amount of fun!! I had begun the countdown 3 weeks ago and it was finally here. After a “two hour drive” the wait was over. And actually so was the mystery book prize give away at Ponderosa.  It’s was cool though. My sister that I rode with and I decided to indulge in White Castle’s, one of my favorite restaurants that Kalamazoo doesn’t have. When I say indulge, I literally had to stop myself from ordering the whole menu! I took it back to another one of my sister’s apartments. We played some cards games and switched to a sound memory game as the night went on. Not a good idea! No one could remember ANYthing. It was so funny seeing smoke coming out of people’s ears.

The next day, we went to the Hardrock Café in downtown Detroit. I felt horrible. The restaurant was beautiful and I had never been. I lived in Detroit my whole life and went to school downtown. How did this place escape me??? Anywho, if you haven’t been, the indoor waterfall, and delicious food will make it a rewarding trip.  After lunch we went to Wayne State’s student’s center for “special bonding time” lol. After that we practice and learned new line dancing for the ball and just for fun. I was work! I think I lost 10 pounds! Hehehe. This was definitely a time to remember.

Well, until next time lovely people.

I started off October with exams and a trip to Cedar Point. Exams weren’t fun but Cedar Point was awwwwwwesome!! Some friends and I decided to drive down for Halloweekend…best decision ever! It just seemed like so much more fun. I think it was because of the absence of torturing hot sun and long lines….just a guess.

Alpha Omega had our first informational. We were really excited about the people that attended. Of course we had fun playing wacky games and getting to know each other. I think we should start a Wacky Games Club on campus, if they don’t already have one. I also had a ton of running around to do to with budgets and contracts making sure that the people we hired for “Grown and Saved” got paid. On top of that we have begun the planning for our 16^th Annual Black and Purple Gala that will be April 10^th, 2009. (Hey, things have to get planned early for success to happen.)

I had my first midterm in statistics and it’s not looking good. But! The semester isn’t over. By the end of this semester I will have at least a C. And I will call it a comeback. LOL.

I had a chance to get back to my roots of Western when I went to Battle Creek to visit the Aviation campus. Seriously guys, I almost switched back! Being in the hanger and so close to the planes again, looking at the map thinking “oooo the places I could go,” going into the flight simulator, touching the controls, being in the Air Traffic Controls Tower….. are just a few example of how I  was like a kid in the candy store.  

I went to the WMU vs. CMU football game which was here at Waldo Football Stadium. CMU is Western’s (and mine, because I’m behind the W, bleeding brown and gold) biggest rivals. I was so revved up and amped for the game. I was trash talking and everything. But after a small fight in the men’s bathroom my friends decided they had to leave. Sad face, because Courtney had to leave with them. Unfortunately, my trash talking had to stop because we ended up losing the game. The night didn’t end badly however. My friends decided to take me to see “Couples Retreat” and get my mind off the loss. We went to the Rave – a movie theater about 10 minutes away from campus in Downtown Kalamazoo. If you haven’t seen it, do so! Like even now, the blog will still be here when you get back. LOL. The movie was hilarious and comes highly recommended by yours truly.

Well, until next time lovely people.

The month of September flew by entirely too fast for me!! Adjusting this year was a little difficult because I never really left campus from the summer. So everything was really weird. In addition I also decided to move into an apartment. (I’ve already begun going back and forth on whether that was the right choice or not.)  Come the 3^rd week I had already lost my keys and had to get them replaced . Luckily things are looking better now.

I realized I had three lectures in one day, which is NOT good for the hands and fingers. Lol!  The good thing is I only have one class on Monday/Wednesday and none on Friday! It took awhile to adjust but I did and now classes are going good. Well, except for statistics. BUT, I will prevail.

I had my first tour the same day as Bronco Bash which made for an extremely busy day. Good thing the tour went was awesome and Bronco Bash was fun! What made it even better was that it was my first big event with my contacts!!!! No more glasses for me!

Sigma Lambda Beta (Hispanic Fraternity) had their BBQ at the Valley Ponds. It was wonderful. Everyone who came out enjoyed each other. The food was awesome and free!! Lol. New friendships and connections were made which was also nice because that’s a big part of feeling like family on campus.

Alpha Omega had our first event. It was entitled Grown and Saved and it was a complete success!!!! The room we had was packed (we’ll have to get a bigger one for next year!) We had a ton of people who wanted to perform as they saw the great talent that was already there. I wish I could have some sample performances for you. Now that would be some amazing technology . We had some of our family (Alpha Omega) come from different places in Michigan to show love which made it even better.

W.O.W. (women of warfare, a small women’s group) also had our event to set the mood for the rest of the semester. It too went really well. People’s lives were changed for the better through prayer and it really got the women excited for Experiencing God with our five senses (theme for the semester.)

Well, until next time lovely people.

My name is Courtney and I’m really excited about blogging. I promise I won’t mention the little random things I do that have nothing to do with anything.
I graduated from Cass Technical High School by way of Detroit Michigan. This is my second year at Western. I still want to be as involved as I was last year but also focus on school more. I endured that not-so-bad process of switching majors. I am now a double major in Psychology and Spanish. I also have a minor in Social Psychology. I was made for college so I’m looking forward to growing into programs and studying abroad twice over the next three and a half years.
Besides being a Student Ambassador I am also the treasurer for Alpha Omega Coed Christian Fraternity. I also go by Big Sister Justice or simply Justice. Between creating budgets, planning events, holding office hours to help out students, ministering on campus, meetings, giving tours, telecounseling at night, and school, most of my time is occupied. But I do want to get my feet wet in more activities on campus. So I’m going to see about being involved with WSA and The Latino Student Alliance.
Tune back in to see how that goes.  Also tune back in to see how Christians are having the right kind of fun on campus,  and how my time management skills will be tested.