GERMANY!

Currently, I am in my little room in the hostel that I am staying in until Monday when the rest of the class gets here. Now, I know what you think when you read the word “hostel”. I thought it had a pretty bad connotation before coming here too. When I think of a hostel, I imagine a sort of halfway house for people who cannot afford a hotel or motel room. In Europe, this is not the case. The Generator Hostels are really awesome locations that are geared toward young international travelers who are looking for a cheap place to stay. We have a bar downstairs, modern rooms, and a tasty breakfast in the morning. I was set up here by Western, since we actually spend our first two days here for the trip. Check it out: http://generatorhostels.com/

There are three other people who decided to come in a little early as well. Their names are Allie, Jon, and Tom. I have come on this trip basically not knowing anyone, hoping to integrate myself into the business college after being in the School of Music. It has been a bit of a challenging transition, because the School of Music is so close knit. Even if you do not spend time with anyone in the program after class, they are in each of your classes. It is a lot like high school. Whereas in some of my larger lecture business courses, I have attended a course all semester without speaking to anyone except my professor and/or graduate assistant. Granted that has been my choice to fly under the radar, but I wanted to start networking in a different environment. Therefore: Germany! Allie, Jon, Tom, and I went around Hamburg today taking pictures and exploring the city. It is beautiful here! I cannot wait to upload all of these pictures with my fancy Nikon onto Facebook!

I’ll be sure to keep updates coming from Deutschland as I can do so!

The four of us in Hamburg!

With Bronco Love,

Jazz

Wow-wee!

This semester ended! I took my last final yesterday, Finite math (my last pre-business course before I declare my Marketing major – woohoo!). Today I had work in the Admissions Office from 8am to 11:30am, during which I wrote my final paper for my National Government class. I truly do not suggest this plan of attack on a paper to anyone aside from those who are master procrastinators (i.e. ME!). The paper was due at 12:30pm today, so this was cutting it a little bit closer than I usually would, however it is DONE. Hallelujah, hallelujah!

I am incredibly excited to announce, that as of 2:30pm today, I accepted my first big girl internship! This summer, I will be working at Perspectives Consulting Group as a Market Research Intern and Social Media Coordinator. Usually, this is a position that is for students who have completed their junior or even senior year. I am feeling very proud today! Well, time to pack up my room. This is the last day I will be in a residence hall room ever, at least one that is called my own. Onto apartment living for the summer and next year!

With Bronco Love,

Jazz

P.S.  GERMANY IN TWO DAYS!

Hi!

I have learned a lot this semester about balancing my time, and delegating things that need to get done with my service fraternity. This has been a great learning experience for me as to what I want to occupy my time doing, and what I may be interested in doing for my future.

This past Sunday, I had my first Peer Student Success Team meeting! I was about to meet with other Lee Honors College students to work on planning for next year. I am so excited for the work I am going to be a part of in the fall. Thirty first-year students will be assigned to me that I will be able to guide, and help with their transition to college. In addition, I will be in charge of putting together volunteer events for all of the Lee Honors College students to get their twenty service hours.

Personality tests are integral for how I have grown as a leader, and something that I feel strongly toward. Upon the arrival at my meeting, I was gifted with one of the best things a personality assessment junkie like me could receive: my very own Strengths Quest book! A lot of people do not know what Strengths Quest is, but if you have the opportunity to take the test, DO IT! You are matched with your top five strengths out of thirty-four options. While I know what I am pretty good at, seeing that top five was really beneficial for me to solidify my outlook on what kind of a leader I am and want to become. And now I have a book, so I can read about it all of the time!

In other news, last weekend was my last choir concert that I may ever be a part of at Western. Now that I am not a music major, it is very difficult to fit it into my schedule. It should have been a pretty nostalgic moment for me, looking back at it, but with the amount of rushing I have been doing – it was just another check off of my list. (As you can see below, it is no longer on my countdown!) I am sure that in the middle of this summer the emotions will set in a bit deeper.

The Countdown:

• One math exam
• One political science paper

Look at that list! Two things!!

With Bronco Love,

Jazz

P.S. The Student Ambassador Program is this Friday, I cannot wait!

Not much is left to this semester! Now that I have finished the Cinderella Project, my internship at the Portage Community Center is basically over. I just have final projects and organizational wrap-ups for my fraternity! Time has flown! As I mentioned before, I have my study abroad trip in Germany coming up very fast. I cannot believe how soon I will be flying out of Detroit for Hamburg.

Today, I received unbelievable news from the Lee Honors College. I have been awarded a $1,000 scholarship for my trip! Not only is this very helpful for my funding, but it was such an honor to be chosen by the scholarship review committee. Over 30 scholarship applications were submitted and I was one of few who were chosen. I have now been able to outwardly finance over $3000 of my trip through private donations and grants. For anyone who is considering studying abroad, I truly recommend doing so. I will end up spending just about the same amount that I would on 6 credits over the summer in Michigan plus airfare. How amazing is that?

The Countdown:

• One math exam
• One political science paper

&

• A choir concert

With Bronco Love,

Jazz

Wow! This has been a whirlwind weekend for me! Not only on Friday did I get to have such an amazing event with my service fraternity, yesterday I had the second event for my marketing internship. This was “part two” of the Cinderella Project. Over 125 girls came to the event to receive dresses, jewelry, shoes, sashes, purses – and princess treatment, of course. The day was perfect.

This year was the first collaborative Cinderella Project in the Kalamazoo area of this nature. The three businesses who joined together as a task force were: Portage Community Center (me!), Memories Bridal and Evening Wear, and the Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan Kalamazoo Regional Center. Each girl who came in got a personal shopper while looking through about 1,000 dresses. I could not have been prouder of the work that was put into the event, and how rewarding it felt.

As each girl walked out, they could go to different booths that were set up with free goodies and go to workshops put on by the Girl Scouts.

If you are in the Kalamazoo County Area and have a dress to donate, Memories Bridal takes donations for the project year-round at their store! Memories is located downtown at 203 E Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI 49007.

As per usual, here are some snapshots:

The Countdown (look at how small it is getting!):

• Two math exams
• One political science paper

&

• A choir concert

With Bronco Love,

Jasmine

Today was the first annual ChorOlympics – which was organized by my service fraternity! It was so much fun and such a success. In general, it is very difficult for music students to relax and get out of the practicing/performance groove. ChorOlympics is basically a field day competition between the major choirs at Western. Our goal was to have a stress-free end of the year celebration, and I cannot imagine a better outcome from our goal! Games included: pickle toss, tallest free-standing tower (of large marshmallows and straws), a relay, musical chairs, and tug of war. After the games, we had a cookout and awards ceremony. This was an opportunity for the directors to give end of the year remarks. Overall, I only received fantastic feedback on the event! It was exciting and exactly what our organization had imagined. Here are some photos:

Here is my countdown:
•    Two math exams
•    One political science paper
•    One charity event for my internship
and
•    A choir concert

Tomorrow is my final charity event for my internship! Don’t worry, I’ll post about that later.

With Bronco Love,
Jazz

Wow, this week has been a whirlwind. Luckily for me, I was able to see some of my family this weekend because of Easter! Visiting family over holidays always settles me down a little bit and helps to focus me on how important it is to take time to breathe, and appreciate the people around you. I had not seen my extended family since the summer, so this was really nice for me. My grandparents are incredible people; I look up to them a lot. (These ones are from my dad’s side, for clarification!) I will add on a picture below, just so you can get a nice visual of them.

That is one of the biggest changes in my demeanor I have noticed since beginning my collegiate career. It began with an overhaul of my perspective of my parents and the role they play in my life and me in theirs. Our relationship is made more so of a respect, where I tell them about my life and updates, but they do not chastise my choices or shortcomings. If I do not feel like I am doing well in a class, my dad/mom does not have their nose in my daily schedule asking me why I am not studying (rather than watching a third episode of Once Upon a Time in a row).

Now, that switch in viewpoint has expanded to my feelings toward my extended family. It can be very easy to feel like you need to constantly prove yourself to your extended family, especially when you only see them twice per year like me. Just recently, I have started to feel my mindset morph from that of a child to that of an adult. I feel much less dependent on my family and what they think of my decisions. It is very liberating!

This is just one of the many lifestyle modifications that I have put in place in the past two years. I have no doubt that it all has its roots in moving away to go to school. I am a strong advocate for students moving away from home for college, if the opportunity lends itself. It is such an influential experience.

Aren't they cute?

As per the last 2 weeks, here is my countdown:

• Two math exams
• One political science paper
• One charity event for my internship

and

• One more event for my Fraternity
• A choir concert

Woo-hoo!!! Almost there, and then: TAKE OFF!

With Bronco Love,

Jazz

Yesterday, I got to run my prom dress drive at an alternative high school in the area! It was rewarding and so fun.

34 girls came in, and 34 left with a combination of a dress, jewelry, shoes, or all three!

I am so glad that I got to be a part of this experience. The students who came were all really enthusiastic and wonderful to work with. They each dashed in and selected three or four dresses that they wanted to try on, and went to the back room. Then they came out like in a fashion show with their friends, each one grinning from ear to ear. After they chose a dress, they could pick out matching shoes and accessories. I had snacks set up, and a raffle for them to enter! The pictures really explain it better than I can, take a look!

Also, to keep up with my count down:

• Two math exams
• One political science papers
• Two retreats
• One charity event for my internship

and

• One Saturday Admissions events!!
• Two more events for my Fraternity
• A choir concert

With Bronco Love,

Jazz

Woo! This is incredible: the semester is flying past. I cannot believe that there are only six weeks between me and Germany.

I cannot remember if I posted about it before, but for my study abroad trip our professor is trying to teach us how to be business men and women. That being said, I have to make most of my planning arrangements for the trip, as far as getting to Europe and the hotel, etc. It is so exciting! So last night, I purchased my ticket. $1188 down, and I am ready for the flight. My plan is to actually go a couple of days early, settle at the hotel, and relax in the city before the hustle and bustle of the program. After the program ends, I will be staying there for a little bit longer (4 days) to visit my family who lives just south of Frankfurt.

Let’s look at the things that are left to do this semester:

• Three math exams
• Two political science papers
• Two retreats
• Two charity events for my internship

and

• Two more Saturday Admissions events
• Two more events for my Fraternity
• A choir concert
• A conference

That’s it, ah! This is crazy. I hope that everyone is having a great semester!

With Bronco Love,

Jazz

Great news: I am a new PSST mentor! I received the email today during my math lecture! Upon opening the email, I was grinning ear to ear, and after internally rejoicing for a good thirty seconds – I looked up to see my professor staring at me, confused. Whoops! Regardless of that, I am a new LHC (Lee Honors College) mentor! WOO-HOO! Now I have two jobs for the 2013-14 school year, including the Student Ambassador’s office, of course!

Even before my wonderful news this afternoon, I was already having a splendid day! My internship at the Portage Community Center is going well. I was able to sit in on a professional meeting this morning, making comments on how we are running our big event: The Cinderella Project. I am in the process of finding organizations and businesses to donate coupons and other items for our girls to pick up at the end of their spa day. I have quickly realized how difficult that can be, since most businesses take a good two or three calls before you are actually finalized with them. This has definitely been a learning experience for me on time management, and how much energy it actually takes to run events like these. And let me tell you: a LOT is needed.

Just two more days until my personal Spring Break begins, as I decided to duck out a couple of days early! On Wednesday night, I will be on a plane to the South! This break is being welcomed with my open arms: I am so excited for good food and sleep!

With Bronco Love,

Jazz