15 Months Later… - September 1, 2015

Hey there, friends.

Well, here we are again. Back at this same old website with all my old posts from freshman year (which now feels like it was ages ago). But this time, there'll be new people reading, and there's a new person writing.

I feel like I've grown up a lot in the past year or so, at least in some ways. At the least, I've been through some crazy new adventures that have left me in a very different place than I was at the end of freshman year.

"Let me explain... No, there is too much. Let me sum up"

 You guys didn't really miss much the summer between freshman and sophomore year. I worked two jobs, one at a restaurant and one at a coffee shop (both in Mountain View) which was exhausting but still a good idea. My relief was Highway's College group every week, where I had the chance to see friends and stay close with them, which was awesome after a whole school year of missing each other.

At the beginning of sophomore year, I decided to go through sorority recruitment, and here's where my college experience turned on it's head.
Sorority rush is comparable to the Sorting Hat at Hogwarts, except the Hat puts you through the Ultra-Feminized Triwizard Tournament first. Under this analogy, I came out victorious and pledged Alpha Gamma Delta.

Bid Day!

Joining Alpha Gam has opened up more opportunities for me than I ever realized it would. First and foremost, it shook my stereotypical idea of what it took to be a "sorority girl," and what connotations that phrase had had for me before joining. Being a sorority girl means nothing more than being a girl who's in a sorority. We're all human beings, just together thanks to similar values that we share about life and college. It means having friends who get you, and who act like your sisters even before they fully understand you. I've met some incredible women I wouldn't trade for the world. Granted, sororities are a little bit cultish at times with all the rituals and etc., but I have to admit, I enjoy that. It's the closest I'll ever come to being in a real cult, so it's fun to over exaggerate what it means when something is covered by "chapter room secrecy." (Don't listen to what I tell you- it just means that it's private information between the chapter and it's women)

Halloween with my new sister, Katie!

Happiest Place on Earth Day! Me and Helen
throwing what we know in this picture-
this girl is the sweetest/cutest!!!

Being in a sorority has also allowed me to go deeper in my faith and become a leader. I decided at the beginning of the year, along with going through rush, I wanted to get more involved in Intervarsity and really make it a central community for me. That was an amazing idea- I've gotten the chance to get so much closer to God and my IV friends through going to Fall Conference on Catalina Island, and seeing them every week at Encounter, and simply going out of my way to talk to them more than I did the year before. It is has been rewarding beyond measure and I am so grateful for IV and what they are accomplishing at USC and in Los Angeles.'

My Fall Con small group on Catalina

However, I didn't forsee these two new communities combining. Turns out, there's a branch of Intervarsity just for Greek students called Greek Intervarsity (or just, Greek IV). I started going as soon as I could, and quickly made friends with the other sorority sisters and fraternity brothers who were also Christian. At the end of my fall semester, Jon, the Greek IV leader for USC, asked me if I'd like to join the CORE team, or team of leaders, to work more deeply on chapter ministry and seeing God work on the Row. I accepted the offer, and all spring I worked with the team to develop new ways of reaching out to the Greek community and creating a new outreach program called Row to Row- where we bring the Greek Row out to Skid Row to serve the community and start a conversation about God through that experience. I wish I'd had more time to go to our outings to Skid Row. We would go out to the Union Rescue Mission and hang out with the children there during their gym time. Again, another rewarding experience that I hope to continue through college. God really gave me a heart for Skid Row these past 4 years since I went with my high school. I have faith it can be cured, and the people there helped, but it's going to take time and a lot of willing people.

Jon and I spent an evening spreading the word.
And flyers. 

Besides Row to Row, Greek IV allowed me to go to Greek Conference in February in Indianapolis, Indiana. Greek IV students from all over the country met there to be encouraged and to learn more about what it means to be both Greek and Christian. It was incredible. Plus, next year, Greek Conference is expanding to be in Los Angeles!!! Although I loved Indianapolis, it's going to be awesome to see more West Coast Greek IV kids, and I can't wait.

On the plane to Indiana!!

Also it was SNOWING!!!

I finally started my business classes, but there's not too much news there. I had Intro to Business in the fall, taught by Professor Napoli, in which I learned the value of having a network. In the Spring, I had an 8am accounting class with Professor Sweeney. Professor Sweeney is a lovely individual. Accounting is not.

As far as my theater life goes, I learned that I'm not too great at Shakespeare in the Fall, though I had the pleasure of being in Mary Joan's class again. I'm not giving up though- I'll figure the Bard out one way or another... I also took my first acting classes with the amazing Bob Bailey in the Fall and equally amazing Laura Flannegan in the Spring. I learned so much from both Bob and Laura! And of course, all the other professors I got to learn from. Honestly, the faculty in the School of Dramatic Arts are all so fantastic. It's hard to go wrong when choosing classes to take.
I didn't get cast in any productions my sophomore year, but that's ok. I got to do so much else!

I do wish I'd gotten to see my family more during sophomore year. I took a trip to Montana during Thanksgiving break to see my family up there, and had a wonderful time at my grandparent's new house out at the coulee. I also took a vacation with my family to Disney World, which marks the first time I've been! I have to say, Disney World was amazing, but I still say Disneyland is better. I'm more than willing to debate this with whoever will give me time to talk about it.

Family Selfie!

Animal Kingdom and Everest with my big Sis <3

And yes, I got my Belle moment :)

 Oh, and then there was that other time during the Spring semester where I decided to go visit Kristina in Germany for Easter weekend.  I'll have to write more on that another time, but MAN, that was fun.

Germany is a fairytale

On the subject of family and friends, I am heartbroken to report that since my last post, one of my dearest family members, one of the wisest women I know, and most faithful blog readers passed away. My Aunt Patti was dearly loved by my family and me. I miss her often- she was an incredible woman who lived a faithful, inspiring, loving life. I always looked up to her, but I feel comforted imagining her looking out for us from heaven. It's not hard to picture.

When sophomore year ended, I had made the decision to stay in Los Angeles for the summer to go to Catalina again with Intervarsity, for Summer Conference, and then work an internship at Revelations Entertainment, a film and TV production company based near Westwood. I never knew there was so much about the Entertainment industry I didn't know. I learned a lot, and not just because I was doing research most of the time for a National Geographic show. The professionals at Revelations were kind, accomplished, and more than willing to talk to the interns about their experiences and share their advice. I even got the opportunity to make a TV debut while I was there. Look for me on the Food Network sometime next spring!

I missed my family a lot while I was away, but even after my internship ended, it was just a short visit back to home before going to LA again. By now, it had been a year since little sophomore me went through recruitment, and now it was time for me to be on the other side of the rush circus. The week before classes start, Alpha Gam had its girls go through Polish Week- AKA Recruitment training bootcamp. Then, I stayed and helped out for half of the recruitment week before finally making the long drive back home. I loved the chance to bond with my sisters- I really got to know more girls in the chapter, plus made some awesome memories. However, it's also been wonderful to be home.

Which brings me to today/tonight. I've been home barely a week, and in a few hours, it will be time for me to leave home again, for much longer and with no weekends for me to come back and visit. In the spring, I found out I had been accepted to study at the British American Dramatic Academy in London, England this fall. I've been an Anglophile for about 2 or so years now so I obviously jumped at the invitation. It was a long application process and I'm honored and excited to get to go. I leave tomorrow, September 2nd, and likely won't return until mid-December. However, as promised, I'll be blogging about my adventures again, just like old times. The plan at the moment is to only write about the most adventurous of adventures, but last time this turned into a daily blog, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm excited. I'm beyond excited, especially with my flight right around the corner. I'm going to miss my family more than ever, but this is also a perfect opportunity to sink myself into theatre and acting- BADA is pretty much an acting conservatory, after all. I'm hoping to become a better actor, to gain more confidence taking care of myself, do a bit of soul searching and what they call "finding yourself," and to make new friends- both American and otherwise.

So, you're up to speed, but we haven't even left the country yet. Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen. This semester is going to be one heck of a ride.

It's good to be back. Fight on, friends.