Fall semester catch up: Part 2

As promised, here's part 2 of our fall semester at KSU RUF ... photo edition.

Here are just a few of the lovely ladies in our weekly Wednesday night Bible study. We've got through Tim Keller's "The Prodigal God," and it has been excellent. I'm so thankful for the discussion, conversation, and transparency in this group. I look forward to Wednesday nights just as much as I do Tuesday nights! (large group night)

This photo is what happened when I asked for their best awkward family beach pose. (Side note: We have girls from every class — freshman, sophomore, junior, senior — in this picture!)

Over the summer, my intern friends at Emory introduced me to a fun event called "Snap, Crackle, Pop Culture Night." You have people bring a box of cereal, and you provide the milk, spoons, and bowls. (And in our case: coffee and OJ.) Everyone gets the chance to try lots of types of cereal (thus the "snap, crackle, pop," and then you sit down to eat while watching a movie (thus the "pop culture"). We did one at my house and it was a hit — I just need a bigger den and a bigger TV. I think we crammed 24 into my tiny den to watch "The Hunger Games." Shout out to Rachael and Jake for letting KSU RUF shamelessly steal y'alls idea. We loved it, and we're definitely doing it again!

Joel (senior), Chelsea (senior), and Lucy (sophomore) going for the cereal — this was maybe half of the selection. Note to self: have a bigger kitchen table for the next "Snap, Crackle, Pop Culture" night.

In October, we headed to fall conference in Temple, Georgia with other area schools: UGA, Emory, GA Tech, Alabama A&M, Samford, UAB, and Mercer. (Sorry if I forgot anyone.) Rev. Les Newsom (former RUF campus minister at Memphis, then Ole Miss; now the RUF area coordinator for RUF Midsouth) spoke to us about faith. This is definitely a topic that I've talked about with students, and the weekend talks helped us continue some great conversations. Les, thank you for speaking and bringing the Word!

Our fall conference group — 26 students! We loved spending the weekend with them.

If you're friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that my hair was pink for the weekend. We challenged Emory's RUF to see who could get the most students to the conference. The prize: the winning school's intern had to dye her pink for the weekend. We beat Emory by 8, so my hair went pink for the weekend!

Taylor (one of our seniors) prepping my hair on Saturday morning. 

Candice (junior) took the photos and Taylor did my hair. Thanks, ladies! Now I 

know I can pull off the Katy Perry/Sydney Bristow look for Halloween next year.

"Winning" intern (me) and "losing" intern (Rachael). You decide who 

looks like she ended up winning for the weekend ...

Thankful that I didn't have to sport a mohawk like Justin (UGA's campus minister). UGA got 100 students to fall conference, so Justin had to do a mohawk. Look out, Bowen — you're totally doing this for SuCo!

We do a weekly Thursday lunch in the Commons. (The Commons is Kennesaw's state of the art "cafeteria" — I use that term loosely because it's way better than any college cafeteria I've ever had. It's actually ranked in Newsweek and "The Daily Meal" for best college food.) It's a lot of fun, and I love hanging out there every Thursday. One week, the new and improved Scrappy (KSU's mascot) stopped by our table.

David (senior) and Joel (senior) talking basketball with Scrappy.

Some of y'all know that I've tried to start running somewhat consistently. I've learned that if I pay money for it (a gym membership or 5Ks), I'm more likely to actually run and train. In October, I jogged a 5K with Chelsea, who graciously stuck with me, even though she totally could have run the whole thing and made great time. Thanks, Chelsea!

The run was at night, so we had glowstick bracelets and leg/arm bands. And yes, we're sporting RUF SuCo airbrush t-shirts. Pretty sure we were the only two running in airbrush tanks!

Three of our girls hosted an epic Halloween party at their apartment. We had a great time with the photobooth that Taylor (one of our seniors) set up. If you want to see more photos, check out the album on Facebook.

I went as Sleeping Beauty (hello recycled college costume) and Laura Kate (freshman) went as '80s workout Barbie!

I'm the one in the back wearing the helmet (that was part of Kevin's Tron costume). We've also got Poison Ivy (Lexi), Supergirl (Anna), flapper dancer (Mallory), Wonder Woman (Chelsea), tiger (Hannah), and Batgirl (Taylor).

Georgia Tech's RUF hosted the second annual fall semiformal in November. This year's theme was Hollywood. We weren't exactly sure what to do with that, so basically we just put on nice clothes and hit the dance floor. Thanks, GA Tech for having us!

Semiformal with Frances (sophomore)

All three of these ladies (Sally, Aubri, and Christa) are new to RUF this year!

I have a few more photos to add (and lots to write), but this will do it for now. More to come later ...

Fall semester catch up: Part 1

For a journalism grad, I'm really terrible at keeping my blog updated...I apologize. If anyone wants to be my blog accountability partner, please be my guest. (Seriously.)

This is part 1 of the photo edition of fall semester — I started off with one post and realized I have too many photos. This post covers August through early October. (I do have another detailed/more thoughtful version in the works, and that will be posted later; but sometimes, it's fun to let the photos and descriptions tell the story.)

Back to school cookout on campus: Sally (one of our new freshmen), Kayla (returning sophomore), Anna (returning senior), and Amber (returned to us after being away at another campus for a bit!)

David, Brandon, & Spencer playing Giant Jenga at the cookout. Chris got the
idea from another RUF campus minister, and it was a hit. (Leave me a comment
 if you want instructions on how to make your own!)

We set up Jenga on the Campus Green for almost two weeks. It definitely helped us
meet lots of students! Phillip (returning junior), Chris (our campus minister),
and Taylor (returning senior) are playing a round here in the shade.

Thankful for students like Christine (returning sophomore), who helped us man
the RUF table, played Jenga, and talked to newcomers. We did this on campus for two weeks.

New meeting place this year — thankful that First United Lutheran Church (on campus) has
allowed us to rent space. Also new this year — the nametag and welcome table! This enables us to greet and get the names of students before they walk into large group.

Several of our girls, including Anna and Chelsea, faithfully helped chalk up campus
on Monday nights to promote RUF. (And by the way, it worked! We have students who
found out about RUF because they saw our chalk!)

This photo is dark because it was taken around 12:30 am ... and that makes for a good story: We had a great turnout for our first big chalking event. I split the girls up into groups and we went our merry ways around campus, careful to obey Kennesaw's chalking regulations ... or so I thought. I got home around 11 pm, and thought I'd doublecheck my KSU handbook. Much to my dismay, I found we had accidentally violated the chalking policy — in about 15 different places on campus! Matt (holding the water jug) and Steve (with the broom) answered my desperate text messages for help, graciously provided cleaning supplies (water jugs, a pesticide sprayer filled with water, and a broom) and scrubbed away the illegal chalking. Guys, y'all are my heros. I don't know what I would have done without y'all!

First large group of the semester — so many students that I couldn't get everyone in the photo!

The new place means we get to plug in for music! Thankful for our band: Joel (guitar), Josiah (banjo), Anna (vocals), Matt (guitar and vocals), Eli (bass and vocals). (Not pictured: Phillip, who does our sound, Kayla, who does vocals, and Jordan, who plays djembe.) And yes, they're all in matching shirts for RUF photo night!

This was one attempt at a group photo. Sadly, the lighting is pretty 

terrible — but you get the general idea. 

The city of Kennesaw had food trucks every Monday night for the "summer" months (June through October). That meant several great trips with the girls (great for the food and fellowship, but not so much for the waistline). Sally and I split an apple pie sundae, and yes, it was crazy delicious.

Thus ends part 1 of the photo update — thanks for reading. Stay tuned for part 2, which includes fall conference, Halloween party, semiformal, and other shenanigans...

Fall semester part 2 - photo edition

As promised, here's part two of the semester at Kennesaw! (Next up is the New York update ...)

In November, Georgia Tech hosted the first-ever semiformal for all the Georgia schools with RUF: GA Tech, UGA, Kennesaw, Mercer, Emory, Georgia Southern, and SCAD. The theme was the 1920's, and Kennesaw absolutely rocked it. It was so fun to get dressed up, visit with other RUF students, and dance the night away at the Georgia Tech's Alumni House.

The Kennesaw crew

Interns at the semiformal: Jake (Southern Miss) came to visit Rachael (Emory)

Thanks to Emily C (who works for RUF's main office in Atlanta), our girls Bible study was able to help NightLight Atlanta with their Christmas project — wrapping 100 Jesus Storybook Bibles and 100 giftbags for children who live in at-risk areas. NightLight Atlanta is "a faith-based, grassroots movement that addresses the complex issues of commercial sexual exploitation through prevention, intervention, restoration, and education. NightLight Atlanta seeks to mobilize the Body of Christ to loose the chains of injustice, while partnering with local law enforcement and service providers to set the captives free." (from NightLight Atlanta's website) Emily invited us to come help write notes in the Bibles, wrap them, and fix gift bags for the kids. Two of our girls who live in the area were able to attend the Christmas party and meet some of the kids. 

The girls writing notes in each Bible before wrapping them.

The girls who wrote, wrapped, and tied ribbons — thanks for hosting us, Emily!

Part of the fun of Kennesaw and Atlanta is trying all the yummy food places around the area. One of said places is Big Pie in the Sky, which has been featured on Man vs. Food. (The challenge: 11 pounds of carnivore pizza — two people have one hour to eat it all and not throw up. Sick dog. It's $50 to try, but if you win, you get $250.) The pizza slices are as large as a baby, and they're cheap. We visited Big Pie in the Sky right before exams — pizza is brain food, right?

See what I mean about the slice?

To close out the semester, we had a Christmas party at my apartment. We wore tacky Christmas sweaters, ate tons of delicious food, had a gingerbread house competition (the guys beat the girls), sang some Christmas carols, played Christmas charades, and watched "A Christmas Story." It was wonderful to have everyone over — I'm very glad to have an apartment big enough to host people!

Singing Christmas songs — we had a full house!

The crew — so so so thankful for them!

That is our fall semester in a photographic nutshell. Thank you again for your prayers and support!

Fall semester part I — the photo edition

I figured since it's now January and we're into our spring semester, I should give a brief update on last semester! (As a side note, one of my New Year's resolutions was to blog more. We'll see how that goes.) Here's part one:

In September, Kennesaw RUF joined with UGA, Georgia Tech, Alabama A&M, Samford, Emory, and Mercer for fall conference in Temple, Georgia. We had a great time of fellowship and teaching, and the weather was wonderful.

Most of the Kennesaw crew at fall conference

One of the fun things about transferring has been exploring a new city — mainly Atlanta, but Kennesaw and surrounding areas are fun, too. Jennifer and I hit up an apple festival in Ellijay — who knew that Georgia was famous for apples as well as peaches?

This is what happens when you ask a random guy to take a picture — dark, but hey, we got one!

More fun things about Atlanta — when friends come to visit you for a weekend, you get to go all over town doing things! Two of my college roommates came for a weekend, and we hit up IKEA, Flip Burger, and the Atlanta Aquarium. 

Starfish at the aquarium

I went to visit Stephen in Knoxville for a weekend in October, and he surprised me by taking me to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville! It is absolutely beautiful, and we definitely want to go back. 

Stephen has all the photos of us together — he took this one outside the house. HUGE.

RUF had staff training in Atlanta for four days at the end of October. A group of us met up in Chattanooga the weekend beforehand to hang out — and celebrate three of our birthdays. Great way to spend my 24th!

The intern crew after church in Chattanooga. Thankful for them!

I got back from staff training and rushed over to campus for what I thought was our weekly girls Bible study ... instead, my sweet students completely caught me off guard by throwing me a surprise party!

Can you tell that the theme they picked was "White Trash Bash"?

To close out October, we did pumpkin carving. I think we did pretty well, don't you?

Mine is the one with the goofy face

Random thoughts on Kennesaw

Several of you have asked what I like about Kennesaw, how it's different, what's surprised me, etc. Here's my short list of things I've discovered/done/though in my first 40 or so days here:

1. I'm slowly making my way around the touristy-stuff in Atlanta. I already knew I loved big cities, but I really do like the Atlanta area. Last weekend, Kate (my roommate) had a friend in town, so I joined them in Atlanta at the World of Coke. It was fun to learn the history of Coke, see all the artworks and marketing campaigns, taste Coke products from around the world, etc. For dinner, we hit up Gladys Knight's Chicken & Waffles restaurant. Delicious.

Artwork from the World of Coke

2. Parking decks are one of the best inventions/necessities for a college campus. Kennesaw has four of them. Honestly, I have no idea why State and MTSU don't have them (besides the whole money thing, and no one wants to donate a million dollars to get their name on a parking garage). If I'm ever wealthy, I'm donating money to State for a parking garage. Sorry they're not pretty, but they're so useful!

3. Having said that about parking decks, I have absolutely no reason to complain about parking at any other school ever again. Parking at Kennesaw is INSANE. I've been very fortunate to be able to park in visitor parking (and while it's a hike, I'm guaranteed a spot). Students and faculty members = not so much. I've never seen such a crazy parking situation. Seriously, I am never complaining about university parking again.

4. I have officially tried Zumba class once (and going again this evening), and like I anticipated, I am no pro. I was honestly a little self-concious about going, but it was a good workout, and a lot of fun — a great chance to laugh and burn calories with lots of girls! My lack of dance skills is just sad, though ... if I have daughters, they are ALL doing dance classes for a VERY long time so they don't inherit their mother's abysmal dance moves. Clearly, three or four years of ballet wasn't enough for me.

5. Kennesaw is a big-time commuter school. Big time — 85% of students commute (this means they don't live on campus). While some "commute" from the apartment complex a mile away, others commute from over an hour away. Crazy. This makes community and getting our group together a challenge.

6. Campus is dead here on Fridays. Most students don't have Friday classes, but if they do have one, it's usually because they registered late or got stuck with a late orientation. I'm kind of jealous that most of the freshmen I know don't have Friday classes. I always had a Friday class — except for first semester of senior year.

7. Kennesaw offers Saturday classes. And yes, some of the students I know have to take Saturday classes because it's all that was open. Sad day.

8. There is a Waffle House that's practically on campus. If that isn't genius, I don't know what is. There's also a Wendy's across the street, and a Subway, Jimmy John's, and Mellow Mushroom within comfortable walking distance. There's a ton of places within a mile or so of campus — which makes getting off campus for a one-on-one very easy (who doesn't love escaping the cafeteria for lunch?).

Our Waffle House looks a lot like this one. Thanks, Google.

9. Kennesaw's "cafeteria" is like a food court. You swipe your card (they only take KSU IDs), and that gets you whatever food you want while you're inside. There's no take-out, and once you leave, you have to swipe to get back inside. I've been impressed with their gluten and dairy-free ice cream, as well as several other gluten-free products. You can even request gluten-free pizza at the Italian place. It's good to see a university working on special food needs and allergies — way to go, Kennesaw.

10. Student groups are allowed to chalk around campus. Chalking was considered "vandalism" at Mississippi State (seriously), and it wasn't allowed at MTSU. I still slow down to read almost everything chalked around the sidewalks at Kennesaw — I'm not used to seeing it.

11. Georgia has lots of divided highways — they're everywhere. This makes the "Georgia u-turn" (as my roommate calls it) an everyday occurrence.

12. Traffic here is .... interesting. Last year, I lived less than a mile from campus, so it took me maybe five minutes from my doorstep to parking on campus. In Kennesaw, I'm 5.2 miles from campus. On a good day, it takes me 15 minutes to get to campus and park. On a bad day, it takes 45 minutes — seriously. I learned this the hard way my first week ... thankfully, my campus minister was very gracious about me being late!

13. I'm slowly learning more about the the Braves. I went to my first Braves game last month, and really liked it. Hopefully they can pull it together in these last few games...

View from my first Braves game — that's Chipper on the board.

14. Kate and I live right by a Walmart. I've loved being able to walk to get my groceries. (Really, I do.) We'll see how long I can keep that up, especially once it gets cold. It's also weird to walk in to Walmart (or another grocery store) and see a whole wine aisle. After living in Tennessee my whole life and doing college in Mississippi, I'm not used to that (grocery stores can't stock wine in TN and MS).

15. We also live right by a Starbucks. Thankfully, I don't have a severe caffeine addiction (otherwise known as RUF intern syndrome, since half of job involves drinking coffee and the other half involves staying out late with students...kidding...but it is part of the job!). If I did have a caffeine addiction, living within 100 yards of Starbucks could be a major problem. None of the baristas know my name (yet), so that's a good sign, right?

16. There is a lot to do around here, and they have almost everything within 20 minutes of driving...however, I have found that there's no Pei Wei or Backyard Burger close. (I just started thinking about restaurants and fast food places that I hadn't seen yet, then Googled them. I found everything except those two.)

17. Recycling here is so easy, and I love that. Our apartment complex does recycling (and we live very close to the bins, so yay for convenience), and campus has bins in every major area. I grew up assuming that it was easy and convenient to recycle everywhere — then I moved to Mississippi State (and then Murfreesboro) and discovered otherwise.

It's easy being green!

18. Everyone here pretty much cheers for Georgia (Bulldogs) or Georgia Tech (Yellow Jackets). (Kennesaw doesn't have a football team, but they're getting one in 2014.) The rivalry is similar to Ole Miss/Mississippi State. Several weeks ago, I asked the students which team I needed to cheer for, and I listened to their arguments. Normally I cheer for the SEC, but I'm a little uncomfortable cheering for both sets of SEC Bulldogs...so come November 26 (when they play Georgia), I'm cheering for Tech!

19. I really, really like it here. And you should come visit!

Welcome to Georgia!

So … I now live and work in Kennesaw, Georgia!

Most of you already knew this via my mailed newsletter, but I figured it was time to blog about it! (If you didn’t get a newsletter, please send me your address and I’ll add you to my mailing list.)

Effective two weeks ago, I became the RUF intern at Kennesaw State University (close to Atlanta). I transferred from Middle Tennessee State University and will finish the second year of my internship here at Kennesaw. I was approached about the need for a female intern at KSU and offered a transfer. After praying about it, I really felt like the Lord was calling me to KSU.

My last year at MTSU was challenging, but I learned so much about the Lord and His faithfulness. I’m thankful for how He has worked in my heart over the past year, and I’m incredibly grateful for how He used my family and friends to support me.

MTSU’s RUF is healthy and is continuing this year — that wasn’t why I transferred. I’m thankful for Paul and his family, the MTSU students, and the church back in Murfreesboro. I’m thankful for the time I spent with them — they have taught me much!

As of today, I’ve been in Kennesaw for two whole weeks! I’m so excited to be here. It has been a whirlwind of change and new things: new place, new city, new university, new students, new church, new CM (campus minister) and his family, new roommate, new apartment, new traffic; EVERYTHING is new! At times, I’ve found myself a bit overwhelmed by simply not knowing anything, but I’m learning, and the Lord is teaching me to rely on Him instead of the familiar and the comfortable.

I’m incredibly thankful for Chris and Jen (the KSU campus minister and his wife). They have taken me in and have been so kind and welcoming. Their lives have been pretty crazy this month, as they just had their first baby on August 3, and unexpectedly got an intern that same week! Sweet Phoebe is doing great, but do pray for the Bowens as they adjust to life with a little one.

In the past two weeks, Chris and I have been on campus getting to know students and getting the word out about RUF. Chris has led me around campus and has been so very patient with me as I try to take in everything. We spent Wednesday and Thursday of last week passing out freezer pops and handing out candy and RUF cups, as well as flyers about RUF. We met a lot of students, and I was really encouraged by how many of them stopped by again for our cookout on Monday. I’ve spent this week meeting with girls on campus, and am excited to be meeting girls who are active in RUF as well as girls who are looking to join the RUF community. Please be praying for diligence and perseverance as I work on campus, especially with the semester just now beginning. Pray that I’ll be bold with the gospel, and that I’ll be open and honest with students.

Tonight, we’ve got a group headed to watch the Kennesaw Lady Owls soccer team take on College of Charleston! (Kennesaw doesn’t have a football team — yet. Supposedly they’re getting one in 2014.) Our first large group will be this coming Tuesday, so please pray that the Lord will bring students, and that He will use Chris to preach His Word diligently. Our small groups will be starting up shortly, so pray that the Lord will raise up students to come, as well as bless those who will be teaching.

If you’re interested in looking up Kennesaw, you can check out our RUF site here. Again, thanks for all your prayers and support — stay tuned for updates (with more photos, once I get my Internet at the apartment working!). 

Attended my first Braves game with 23 students last Friday!