So the first week of classes wasn't too bad, but it's going to take a while to get used to the French class schedule. We usually have class for 6 hours a day with only an hour or two for lunch break. Going from 9-1 straight is VERY exhausting, especially when some of the teachers' accents are hard to understand. This past Thursday we went out with all the French people in our classes and it was very fun. We went to this really fun club (one of the biggest in France) and didn't get home until 430. We had class the next morning at 9 so it was a very rough morning for all.
We left Friday after class for Paris, unfortunately our train was delayed for 2 hours so that was a bummer. We eventually got in around midnight and we were all starving. Luckily in Paris you can find food whenever. We woke up relatively early Saturday and wandered around our hostel (north Paris). Unfortunatkey we ended up getting quite lost....we almost were off the map. Lucky somebody who spoke English pointed us in the right direction. Saturday afternoon we did some more wandering and saw the louvre and the notre-dame. It was my 3rd time in Paris and seeing everything, but I still enjoyed them a lot. After all that walking, we were exhausted, so we had a very nice Italian dinner complete with good wine. Afterwards, we walked to the Eiffel tower and saw the light show which was very cool. Afterwards we were practically dead so we went home. Sunday we saw the arc de triumphe and the champs-elysees and walked around.we got back to Nantes late last night and I was happy to be home.
Today we met another new professor who is from Texas and a UT alum. Needless to say, she's very charismatic and says y'all so I love her. This weekend we'll be in Nice, so I'm hoping for some good weather!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Nantes!!
After the longest trip ever, I was so excited to finally get to Nantes and it was well worth it. I'd list a bunch of useless facts about the city but the most important things are that it's in the western loire valley of France, relatively near the coast, and beautiful. I'm living with a host family relatively close to the main downtown area and a 10 minute tram ride to audencia (the business school where we take classes). I have a mom, dad, 12-year old girl 21 and 23 year old boys and a 25-year old girl. But the 12-year old is the only sibling here all the time. I also have another OSU girl staying here too. Typical French house with insanely high ceilings, small bedrooms, and weird bathrooms. But its very cute!
Since being here I've had spinnach, tons of cheese, duck, and some other stuff I don't want to know, but all of the food is delicious. My host mom is a great cook. We had a bank holiday on Monday, so I took that time to wander around Nantes a bit. Little did i know, our school had already arranged a tour for Tuesday. The official tour was way more thorough and informative than mine and I learned a lot about the city. Tuesday night, all of the Americans in the program (including OSU, UC, BG, and some other random schools) and some of the French people from audencia all went out together. Drinks here are VERY expensive, but very good. The bar was mostly our group, but it was a good way of getting to know everybody.
Today was an early morning (730) after last night, so I definitely learned I need to head in a bit earlier on week nights. We had class for three hours, then a 2 hour lunch break, then three more hours of class. It was NOT fun at all. Everybody was very tired and it was extremey hard to stay awake. Hopefully that gets better with time. We're going to Paris this weekend and I can't wait to go back to one of my favorite cities!
Since being here I've had spinnach, tons of cheese, duck, and some other stuff I don't want to know, but all of the food is delicious. My host mom is a great cook. We had a bank holiday on Monday, so I took that time to wander around Nantes a bit. Little did i know, our school had already arranged a tour for Tuesday. The official tour was way more thorough and informative than mine and I learned a lot about the city. Tuesday night, all of the Americans in the program (including OSU, UC, BG, and some other random schools) and some of the French people from audencia all went out together. Drinks here are VERY expensive, but very good. The bar was mostly our group, but it was a good way of getting to know everybody.
Today was an early morning (730) after last night, so I definitely learned I need to head in a bit earlier on week nights. We had class for three hours, then a 2 hour lunch break, then three more hours of class. It was NOT fun at all. Everybody was very tired and it was extremey hard to stay awake. Hopefully that gets better with time. We're going to Paris this weekend and I can't wait to go back to one of my favorite cities!
Getting to France aka the adventure of a lifetime
So since I already had a blog from my Greek leadership class this past spring, I thought I could keep it going while I survive europe for the next month and a half.
Back to the beginning: Saturday morning I woke up with no phone, no wallet, and quite the headache. The previous night I was convinced to join in the festivities of my friends 21st birthday-not the best decision ever. Long story short, my purse got locked in somebody's room who then proceeded to fall asleep quite soundly. So i went home with nothing that night telling myself I'd wake up early the next day to get it back. I wasn't feeling the best when my alarm went off the next morning at 8. We thought it'd be a good idea to have a slumber party on the informal room floor and my back hurt like hell. I also realized I hadn't packed at all and needed to leave by 11:30 for my flight. Woof. Finally I was getting everything together (including my bag) and then my suitcase handle decided not to work. We tried for a solid 10 minutes and I was near my breaking point. Eventually I unpacked, fixed the handle and then shoved everything back in and left. I finally got through security in Columbus and thought I was good to go. Then I got a text from continental saying my flight from Newark to Paris was 5 hours late. I was in the middle of chilis having a panic attack about missing my train to Nantes. Not okay. Eventually my parents were able to rebook my train ticket and the rest of my trip went relatively smoothly (besides my 6 hour layover in Newark). I finally got to Nantes and it was well worth it!
Back to the beginning: Saturday morning I woke up with no phone, no wallet, and quite the headache. The previous night I was convinced to join in the festivities of my friends 21st birthday-not the best decision ever. Long story short, my purse got locked in somebody's room who then proceeded to fall asleep quite soundly. So i went home with nothing that night telling myself I'd wake up early the next day to get it back. I wasn't feeling the best when my alarm went off the next morning at 8. We thought it'd be a good idea to have a slumber party on the informal room floor and my back hurt like hell. I also realized I hadn't packed at all and needed to leave by 11:30 for my flight. Woof. Finally I was getting everything together (including my bag) and then my suitcase handle decided not to work. We tried for a solid 10 minutes and I was near my breaking point. Eventually I unpacked, fixed the handle and then shoved everything back in and left. I finally got through security in Columbus and thought I was good to go. Then I got a text from continental saying my flight from Newark to Paris was 5 hours late. I was in the middle of chilis having a panic attack about missing my train to Nantes. Not okay. Eventually my parents were able to rebook my train ticket and the rest of my trip went relatively smoothly (besides my 6 hour layover in Newark). I finally got to Nantes and it was well worth it!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Roundup gets rowdy
Roundup at UT. if you're from Texas, you've heard of it, been to it, or know people who have. It's basically one massive party for all the fraternities at UT. Picture massive amounts of people, incredible performers, and neon fanny packs everywhere. everybody in Greek life goes there, and often high schoolers who know they're not only headed to Austin the following year but also into Greek life attend. sometimes even fellow Greeks from other schools in Texas attend. As you can imagine, all these people (mostly intoxicated) can cause issues. According to the Daily Texan, this past year there were reports of a woman getting assaulted and apparently racist intentions behind it. The article also references other racist incidences that have occurred in the past. This was definitely something new to me. I had always viewed it as one big party, although now it's evident that even things with the purest intentions can end up bad. As a Greek community we cannot tolerate this behavior. If we expect the community outside Greek life to respect us, we must not allow things like this to occur. Eventually the administration will cut down on any and all events which could produce these types of offenses.
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2011/04/13/racial-conflicts-tarnish-history-roundup
some pictures from roundup this past year
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2011/04/13/racial-conflicts-tarnish-history-roundup
some pictures from roundup this past year
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
bystander effect
So in college, there have been various times when i know myself, as well as my friends and sisters have all been bystanders. Luckily, nothing serious has happened because of it. there was a time, however, in high school where something more serious occurred. My junior year i was hanging out with a bunch of my friends on my soccer team and we were all drinking having a good time. Eventually, people started separating off and going to different places. I went to my boyfriends house with a couple of my friends and some of the other girls went to another party. Everything was going fine until i went to check my phone upstairs and i had about 10 missed calls, all from various people. One of whom was my ex-best friend. We had a falling out over a series of things, including her boyfriend at the time and i didn't really want to talk to her. so i didn't call her back
About 25 minutes later, i got a call from her boyfriend and picked it up. He was freaking out and screaming and telling me that something was wrong with erin (my ex-friend). All he kept saying was he thought she was unconscious and didnt' know what to do. So i told one of my teammates that wasn't drinking and she drove us to where they were. When we got there he was holding erin, and i have never seen anything scarier in my entire life, she really and truly looked dead. We took her to a guy friends car and me and another friend jumped in the back with erin. We took off for the hospital at speeds i don't even want to think about. Cops tried to pull us over twice, but realized we weren't stopping for anything and they gave up. We finally got to the hospital and rushed her inside to the emergency room. More and more people kept showing up at the hospital, including erin's mom, whom i had to call. she was hysterical and screaming at me and telling me it was somehow my fault. Luckily, another one of the soccer moms was there to calm her down. While waiting i got the full story.
One of the seniors on the team had gotten erin some Everclear for the evening (it's legal in texas). However, Erin decided to drink almost half the bottle by herself. While she continued to get more and more drunk, none of the people she was with stopped her. I can imagine she was beyond belligerent, and at no point did anybody she was with stopped her. I'm assuming this is mostly because none of them had really drank before, so they didn't know how to handle it. Regardless, it was stupid of them to do absolutely nothing. Just like it was stupid of me to ignore all those phone calls. had i picked up earlier, maybe i could have changed the outcome of the night. Erin ended up having alcohol poisoning and she was released from the hospital the next morning. Unfortunately for her, gossip travels fast at our school, and by the following monday EVERYBODY knew and was talking about her. I felt awful. She was also grounded for 8 months. Her mom made her apologize to anybody involved, although i think many of us should have apologized to her. Me and erin never solved our previous issues, and to this day we still aren't friends/don't talk about what happened that night.
As far as the greek community, i think my experience definitely taught me to always be watching out for people. I certainly like to have a good time when i go out, but my sisters' safety is my number one priority. I will always make sure somebody is walked home, not by themselves, etc. Honestly in serious situations, you really do "sober up quick." Luckily for me, my best friends are my sisters, and i know they ALWAYS have my back, and would do anything to help me out. however, i know thats not the case for anybody, and that is a serious issue that must be addressed within the Greek Community.
About 25 minutes later, i got a call from her boyfriend and picked it up. He was freaking out and screaming and telling me that something was wrong with erin (my ex-friend). All he kept saying was he thought she was unconscious and didnt' know what to do. So i told one of my teammates that wasn't drinking and she drove us to where they were. When we got there he was holding erin, and i have never seen anything scarier in my entire life, she really and truly looked dead. We took her to a guy friends car and me and another friend jumped in the back with erin. We took off for the hospital at speeds i don't even want to think about. Cops tried to pull us over twice, but realized we weren't stopping for anything and they gave up. We finally got to the hospital and rushed her inside to the emergency room. More and more people kept showing up at the hospital, including erin's mom, whom i had to call. she was hysterical and screaming at me and telling me it was somehow my fault. Luckily, another one of the soccer moms was there to calm her down. While waiting i got the full story.
One of the seniors on the team had gotten erin some Everclear for the evening (it's legal in texas). However, Erin decided to drink almost half the bottle by herself. While she continued to get more and more drunk, none of the people she was with stopped her. I can imagine she was beyond belligerent, and at no point did anybody she was with stopped her. I'm assuming this is mostly because none of them had really drank before, so they didn't know how to handle it. Regardless, it was stupid of them to do absolutely nothing. Just like it was stupid of me to ignore all those phone calls. had i picked up earlier, maybe i could have changed the outcome of the night. Erin ended up having alcohol poisoning and she was released from the hospital the next morning. Unfortunately for her, gossip travels fast at our school, and by the following monday EVERYBODY knew and was talking about her. I felt awful. She was also grounded for 8 months. Her mom made her apologize to anybody involved, although i think many of us should have apologized to her. Me and erin never solved our previous issues, and to this day we still aren't friends/don't talk about what happened that night.
As far as the greek community, i think my experience definitely taught me to always be watching out for people. I certainly like to have a good time when i go out, but my sisters' safety is my number one priority. I will always make sure somebody is walked home, not by themselves, etc. Honestly in serious situations, you really do "sober up quick." Luckily for me, my best friends are my sisters, and i know they ALWAYS have my back, and would do anything to help me out. however, i know thats not the case for anybody, and that is a serious issue that must be addressed within the Greek Community.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Oath
So our blog prompt this past week seemed simple enough. After all, it was only one word. however, this one word holds a lot of meaning, especially to somebody who has taken an oath. As discussed in class, there are not that many times in your life when you take an oath. Confirmation, pledging a fraternity or sorority, and marriage are some that i can think of. These are very serious promises you make to uphold a set of values
For a fraternity or sorority, these pledges are often made without full knowledge of what they're doing. Initiation is often a hectic and confusing process, and new members aren't sure exactly what they're promising. Looking back, i know i promised to be a good citizen and sister and to help others follow this same path. However, i wish it was more clear as to what we were promising. I know we can't divulge the secrets of our initiation before the process, but i wish we could find some way to better prepare our new members so they understand the full extent of what they were promising. Perhaps this would help once they girls became active.
For a fraternity or sorority, these pledges are often made without full knowledge of what they're doing. Initiation is often a hectic and confusing process, and new members aren't sure exactly what they're promising. Looking back, i know i promised to be a good citizen and sister and to help others follow this same path. However, i wish it was more clear as to what we were promising. I know we can't divulge the secrets of our initiation before the process, but i wish we could find some way to better prepare our new members so they understand the full extent of what they were promising. Perhaps this would help once they girls became active.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Citizenship
Well this is certainly not the easiest blog to do. The others have been pretty simple, and the answers just came to me. This one, however, i had to actually think about. i know, how horrible.
How are you (individually) displaying citizenship within the fraternity/sorority community?
- When i think about displaying citizenship within the greek community, i try and think about what i've done to help the greek community as an individual. Things like attending other fraternities and sororities events and greek-wide events all help promote greek unity. I try my best to never talk badly about greek life to those who aren't in it. This will hopefully keep the greek community in a good light.
How does your chapter display citizenship within the fraternity/sorority community? What does this look like?
-this is a bit harder to think about. As a whole, we try and get all our girls to attend things such as speakers, philanthropy events, etc. but it is really hard to get a chapter of 95 girls focused on one thing at a time. This is definitely something we are looking to improve in our chapter right now.
How does the fraternity/sorority community display citizenship within the greater university community.
-We as a greek community constantly talk about bettering our image and improving relations within the university community. but there is no way that we are effective at this. Ask any "non-greek" and they will sit there for hours and talk about the crazy parties they went to as freshman, seeing people walking in weird costumes during greek week, and being obnoxious at the O. As fun as all this stuff is, they don't have the benefit of seeing all the other stuff we do. The philanthropies, the service days, the sisterhoods/brotherhoods. If i weren't greek, and all i saw were the things that focused around drinking, i would think we "paid for our friends" too. This is a serious problem that we must aim to fix if we ever hope to become a more rounded greek community and university.
How are you (individually) displaying citizenship within the fraternity/sorority community?
- When i think about displaying citizenship within the greek community, i try and think about what i've done to help the greek community as an individual. Things like attending other fraternities and sororities events and greek-wide events all help promote greek unity. I try my best to never talk badly about greek life to those who aren't in it. This will hopefully keep the greek community in a good light.
How does your chapter display citizenship within the fraternity/sorority community? What does this look like?
-this is a bit harder to think about. As a whole, we try and get all our girls to attend things such as speakers, philanthropy events, etc. but it is really hard to get a chapter of 95 girls focused on one thing at a time. This is definitely something we are looking to improve in our chapter right now.
How does the fraternity/sorority community display citizenship within the greater university community.
-We as a greek community constantly talk about bettering our image and improving relations within the university community. but there is no way that we are effective at this. Ask any "non-greek" and they will sit there for hours and talk about the crazy parties they went to as freshman, seeing people walking in weird costumes during greek week, and being obnoxious at the O. As fun as all this stuff is, they don't have the benefit of seeing all the other stuff we do. The philanthropies, the service days, the sisterhoods/brotherhoods. If i weren't greek, and all i saw were the things that focused around drinking, i would think we "paid for our friends" too. This is a serious problem that we must aim to fix if we ever hope to become a more rounded greek community and university.
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