Spring Break

So today marks the second week back from spring break. These last few days have gone by so fast and I love it and also kind of hate it. I now have 4 weeks left of my sophomore year as a college student which is terrifying and exciting. I am happy the year is almost done because then I can start on having a wonderful summer but I don't want the year to end so quickly because I have a lot of stuff to still do before I move back home. AH!

Talking of time going fast spring break felt like it was only two days long. I did not do much the first couple days. I stayed at home, watched TV, and ate a lot of food. My dad and I had a daddy/daughter day together and went down to Michigan City and did some shopping. Such a good and long day with my dad! About half way through spring break I went back to college to meet up with some girls from the dance department to go to the American College Dance Festival Association. It was my second year going and this year we were in Chicago at Northeastern Illinois University. I had so much more fun this year mostly because I knew what to expect and how to go about which classes/workshops to take. (I'll post a link to the ACDFA website at the bottom so you can check it out!).

So we got back from the festival a day before classes so I took that day to go back home and relax and get my stuff together. I had to mentally prepare myself for going back just because I knew I had a lot to do that I had procrastinated on. Typical me though, I always until the last minute to finish or start anything. I am a very organized person and would prefer getting things done early but I work way better under a time crunch especially when it comes to writing papers.

Now that school is wrapping up I get to start planning about my summer job up at Blue Lake Fine Arts camp as a counselor. I cannot wait to be back there and interact with all the kids that will be coming.

How was everyone else's spring break? How much more of school does everyone else have? Anything you are looking forward to this summer?

Here is the link to the ACDFA conference I went to!

https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1259412

XOXO

ZMH

Dance Marathon

Here at Hope College we have a huge event called Dance Marathon. Hope College has been doing this event for 15 years now and the money we raise each year keeps growing and the participants keep growing as well.

Dance Marathon is a fundraising event that donates all of the money to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. The hospital is one of the best children's care hospital's in the nation. They deal with very sick children every day and work miracles all the time. At Dance Marathon there are dancers and moralers. You can sign up as either one but most people sign up as a dancer. A dancer is the person who stays at the event for the full 24 hours. Dancers are expected to interact with the miracle children and their families as well as stay standing for the full 24 hours and stay awake as well. A morale is someone who is part of the team that comes and stays for 8 hour shifts and morales that dancers. They are there to encourage the dancers and keep their attitudes positive.

I was apart of my sororities Dance Marathon team. This year is was a requirement for the new members to be dancers and then the old actives were all moralers. It was my first year doing the whole 24 hours and to be honest I was terrified. Needless to say though I felt so amazing when it was done. I felt like I accomplished something great and seeing all the families and children thanking us afterward made me so happy. I was in so much pain and so exhausted but I'm glad I was able to do it.

Once the marathon was done I walked as fast as I could back to my dorm, changed my clothes, got some food, and snuggled up in my bed. I slept for a total of 16.5 hours, not all the way through, I did wake up a few times. My body hurt, and still does, so much but I keep telling myself it was for the kids and the pain doesn't seem so bad anymore.

Here is what I have done since the marathon:

I slept for 16.5 hours.

I drank 6 bottles of water.

Ate 4 granola bars.

Ate a whole can of pringles in one sitting.

Ate 2 cupcakes.

Had some McDonalds.

And watched 4 episodes of Parks and Recreation.

This was Alpha Gamma Phi's miracle child Noelle. She was such a sweetheart and so spunky.

Almost all the new members by the Dance Marathon banner. It was about 2am at this point, right before everyone started crashing.

One of our girls proved that it is possible to fall asleep while standing. We were very impressed. Unfortunately she woke up before we could get a photo of all of us around her.

Our lovely banner we made for Noelle. We worked so hard on it and I think it turned out quite well.

Here is a link for more information about Dance Marathon and what we did this year!

http://hope.edu/2014/02/24/dance-marathon-record-setter

XOXO

ZMH

Activation

I am so glad that pledge, or as we call it here Greek Orientation, is over. It was a long 5 weeks but also really fun. We learned all of our songs, met alumni, and got to bond as a pledge class. After that whole ordeal I feel so much closer to my girls and I could not have asked for a better pledge class to have gone through all of that with.

Now that that is all over activation has started. If you don't know what activation is it is basically 2 weeks of parties every night with the fraternities on campus. These are meant to help you get to know the guys on campus and to expose you to how each frat parties so you can decided later on who you enjoy partying with. It's so exhausting but a ton of fun. We have already finished our first week and our second week starts tomorrow. Each fraternity has a theme for the party and that's what I like most. I love dressing up and going crazy with it since I can't drink.

My girls and I take the themes very seriously because this is our first impression for most of the fraternities and we want to make sure they like us and have fun with us. We want to be invited to other events!

I only have a few photos and some aren't too fabulous because well we are in dark basements that don't have a lot of lights. I hope you enjoy them though!

This photo is from our first party with our fraternity brothers. Our brothers are the Knickerbockers and they are the sweetest and chillest guys on campus. As you may be able to tell the theme of this party was PJs. Some of us rocked the footie PJs. 

This is my girl Brittany and I at the Arcadian fraternity party. The theme was frat boy which meant half of us went as bro fratters and the other half did the preppy fratters. We tried so hard but man that was a struggle. I'd say though we pulled off the bro look pretty well. 

XOXO

ZMH