Posts Tagged ‘First Week’

Week In The Life Of A Freshman

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

So this blog is a few days late, but the bonus of it being late is that you get it with pictures and an example of a normal week in my life. My week has been pretty random, so here are my awesome APU highlights! :)

Sunday: We went to a beach bonfire with our brother hall.  We celebrated their RA’s (see note below) birthday with hotdogs and cake. It was fun, but I was definitely tired. Note to self: Get more sleep before going somewhere. Actually, getting more sleep in general would be a pretty good idea.

The mix of wind and fire made it hard to heat our hotdogs!

The mix of wind and fire made it hard to heat our hotdogs!

Huntingtons Beach at night with Meredith, Libby, and Susie :)

Huntington's Beach at night with Meredith, Libby, and Susie :)

Monday: My Mondays feel generally pretty crazy. I have three classes on Mondays, which isn’t too bad, but one of them is 3 hours long and chapel starts at 9:30.  Something interesting probably happened, but I apparently can’t think back a week :) I’m sure there was homework involved. Oh, and this is the day I locked myself out of my room so I studied in our Study Room until Rachel (my roommate) got home.  (By the way, RA’s can unlock the doors for you, but it costs $5) I love the Study Room.

Tuesday: The Freshman had a “Street Meets” which was called a Lumberjack Dance. I don’t really know what the point of the whole thing was, but it was similar to a hoedown with plaid/checkered flannel. The highlight for me was when the RA’s from each dorm performed group dances. I wish I had would have been able to video it! Engstrom was the most amusing, but the Trinity RA’s had the most skill.  I wasn’t able to stay at the dance long though because I had a test the next morning as well as an Alpha meeting. We had our Alpha meeting at 10:30pm after getting coffee at the Cornerstone Cafe because it is the only time that fits our whole group’s schedule. Alphas group are a required once a week meeting with a random group of people from the Beginnings class, lead by an sophomore who volunteered to be an Alpha leader.  It was a very informal meeting and we just had a lot of fun sharing stories and eating delicious Pizookie (an ice cream and cookie dessert) that our Alpha leader Jen made for us.

TIffanys view from the dance

TIffany's view from the dance

Wednesday: Wednesday morning I thought I was going to have my first APU test. My teacher told us to study two chapters in our book. After staying up until 3:00am, studying the two chapters and one wrong one, I felt pretty prepared. Unfortunately, I was a bit over prepared.  My professor’s version of a ‘test on the chapters’ ended up being essentially a 15-question quiz worth 5 points. Needless to say, I realized I should ask for more information on ‘tests’ before studying in that class.

My hall had Family Dinner together! Family dinner consisted of as many 3N Girls going to the Caf together and fitting into one long table. The Caf was reasonable full when we got there at 6:30 and finding a table for 20+ girls was difficult.  The only tables available near each other were in a huge corner that made it hard for anyone to move around. A few of the girls resorted to climbing under the table so they could get more food. It was pretty funny and possibly a bit gross, but we were all able to eat as a ‘family’ (and that’s what counts :)  Every Wednesday Night we have Kaleo, which is my favorite chapel service.

Almost all of the 3N Girls

Almost all of the 3N Girls

I love Kaleo with all of my heart.  The services have been getting so crowed that people have started to line up as early as 8:15 to be sure they get in for the service at 9:00. We are going over the book of Daniel in a way that it is applied to our lives directly connecting to scripture.  Instead of going story by story, we are taking a chapter or two at a time and digging into it while making it personal. I’m sure I’m doing a terrible job at explaining it, but I promise, Kaleo really is awesome.

Thursday: I’m pretty sure something exciting in our hall on Thursday but again, the days seem to blur a bit.

Friday: Friday was a really exciting day for me! I had my normal classes that were great, but the highlight of the day was seeing my friend Lainey. I haven’t really been able to see anyone I know closely for a month and I was so happy to see her face! She goes to a different school about 45 minutes away, but neither of us have cars which makes it difficult to hang out.  Lainey and I have been best friends since 4th grade but she moved to Illinois in 8th grade. Seeing her was definitely a blessing.

My mom made me promise wed take pictures but my camera is broken. My used Photobooth instead :)

Promised my mom we'd take pictures but my camera is broken. My used Photobooth in my dorm instead :)

Saturday: I went to the football game vs. the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. It was fun to cheer them on and even more fun when they won 23-7. There were some awesome fumble returns and an amazing field goal!

Libbys view of the APU football game

Libby's view of the APU football game

Wearing our Blackout at the football game :)

Wearing our Blackout at the football game :)

Sunday: On Sunday I pretty much slept all day. I’ve never been able to go to bed early and college definitely didn’t change that habit. I use my weekends to make up for the 5/6 hours of sleep I get during the week. I basically spent all day in bed but I attempted to do homework too. I wrote my speech for Public Communications and almost started this blog :). I took a break of doing nothing to go celebrate my hall-neighbor’s birthday at Tutti Fruity, a local frozen yogurt place that is not only delicious but also gives APU students 15% off!

Wishing Meredith a Happy Birthday at Tutti Fruiti!

Wishing Meredith a Happy Birthday at Tutti Fruiti!

Monday: My Monday was a crazy day again which is why this blog didn’t get posted this morning.  I love my Exodus/Deuteronomy class but it sometimes causes a brain overload. The hardest part of the day was Public Comm because I was second to give my ‘Story Speech.’

My speech was a fairytale story I made up for the girls I nannied for this summer. I’m not a huge fan of public speaking even though I talk too much. The formality too it is a bit daunting for me and I was definitely nervous.

After Speech I saw a friend from my Into to Communications class and had a fun time hanging out in her hall. Unfortunately when I got back to 3rd North after 10pm I realized I had a quiz in my Health and Wellness class. A neighbor of mine has that class too so we attempted to study in the hall kitchen but we were very easily distracted by pretty much everything and anything. During our ‘study breaks’, which there were more of then actual studying, I started this blog. By the time I got to bed I realized like I hadn’t learned very much, my blog wasn’t finished or proof-read, and I had to be up at 7:45 for my Walk/Jog/Run class.

Tue: When I woke up, the day wasn’t looking too promising. I was tired and was worried about my quizzes. Thankfully, my Health and Wellness test was very easy for me and since we could leave as soon as we were done, I had time to eat and study a little bit more for my Into to Lit quiz. Now I plan on either watching something on Hulu or taking a nap before starting homework. Good day :)

Feel free to add comments or ask any questions!

-Kelsey

*Resident Assistant- An upperclassman who is in our hall all year to support, counsel, and love on us

Beach Trip

Monday, September 21st, 2009

My hall’s awesome RA* (see note below) Megan planned a trip last weekend to celebrate our first week of classes. It was really nice to be able to go somewhere, forget about homework, and most of all, celebrate at the beach!!

About 20 of us piled into cars and took off to Huntington Beach!!

By the time we got there half of the group wanted to go eat but I stayed with the group heading towards the water.

The half that wanted to go straight to the water!

The half that wanted to go straight to the water!

I’m from Northern California and while we have some beautiful beaches, they are usually very cold and windy. Especially because I lived pretty far north. Only brave kids got farther than their ankles in the freezing water and I wasn’t one of them. So the idea of a warm beach was extremely exciting!! It has been a really long time since I’ve been to a warm beach. It was weird to see all of the girls go so far out into the ocean and swim in the huge waves. I’ve been taught never to go above waist level because of the horrible sleeperwaves in NorCal. It was really fun to just hang out in the sun too.

We laid out on the beach for a while and then switched with the other group and ate at BJ’s. BJ’s is a really good restaurant that has delicious deep-dish pizza and Pizookies. Pizookies are huge cookies baked in a deep dish covered with vanilla bean ice cream and they are amazing.  A bunch the girls in the hall are planning a trip to go there (and the beach) soon!

Overall, it was an amazing time to get to know the girls in my hall better, hangout at the beach, and have some amazing food.

Our entire group!

Our entire group!

*Resident Assistant- An upperclassman who is in our hall all year to support, counsel, and love on us.

Greetings from a Freshman perspective!!!

Monday, September 21st, 2009
Me (J.P) at Yosemite!

Me (J.P) at Yosemite!

Hey everyone!!! First off, my name’s J.P and I’m a freshman here at Azusa Pacific University! I’m from Virginia, so deciding to travel all the way to California was a HUGE decision, but I can say it has been the best decision I have made in my entire life.

For those of you who don’t know, there is a program at APU called the “High Sierra” program. For a semester, you get to live on the mountains at Bass Lake, CA with other students who can be in any grade level. You have the chance to rock climb, wake board, trek, hike, and even conquer Yosemite!!

Here’s a picture of the sunset here at High Sierra. It is so amazing

Sunset at Yosemite

Sunset at Yosemite

Since I’m an out of state student, I really wanted to stay on campus and study there and make tons of friends and just live the “freshman life”, but through a series of countless events during my first few days at APU, I decided to do the “High Sierra” program.

So………here I am with only 22 other students up in the mountains!! I love being here. The community is just as awesome as it is back on main campus, just fewer people for sure! I literally went from having over 40 hallmates in the Trinity Hall dorm back on campus to 4 here at High Sierra!! But hey…it’s a good thing because you get to become so close with the few people here. I love each and every person that’s here with me, but unfortunately, I get extremely “campus sick” sometimes when I think of being on campus at Azusa

I find it extremely weird and awkward that I miss being on campus when I have only been there for a week and a half. But during that week and a half, I met so many amazing people. The community at APU is amazing!!! You are destined to make friends no matter what.

I have so much to blog about and I really want to give you guys still in high school and future transfer students a glimpse of what life is really like here at Azusa Pacific University, and not to mention the awesome things I’ve been up to!

For now, here’s a picture of my first football game at APU with my friends. I’ll definitely keep blogging!

Me and my friends before our first APU football game

Me and my friends before our first APU football game

First Week おわり

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

So the first week of school was amazing! All my classes are looking challenging yet fun (what else can you expect from the Graphic Design Major?) Chapel 1 and 2 were great! I always enjoy President John Wallace’s speeches, they simply make me want to be a better person! This year, I definitely want to get SALTY! (Yeah Smith Hall!) If anyone missed it, they should definitely watch it online! And for Chapel 2, I absolutely love that our Professors announce to us all in a kind of oath that they will do their best to help us in our scholarly journey’s this year.

Going on, I also had a lot of fun with my residents this week, I can feel our community growing bit by bit all the time. Apples to Apples was great, along with randomly watching the Lost Room! However, I am truly excited to see the creative level of my building once the rest of them tell me what T stands for! So far, T stands for “Thizzle” which absolutely brought rolling excitement in the form of laughter out when I saw the video I got from a few of my residents! (Good Job Girls!)Azusa From Garcia

Men's Track team on GarciaMy weekend was very busy however. It started on Saturday with a captains practice at 7am consisting of a hike up Garcia Trail. The view was amazing! Our Track team is looking really good this year, I am definitely excited! They are all pretty classy, if I do say so myself.

Then it was time for work. This year I am the Media and Design Manager for IMT Student Services, so I was the MOD this weekend (Manager On Duty) and so I was in the office for long periods of time on Saturday and Sunday working on all the various computers that have come in since school started. I like working with this section of the school that makes sure the students have their most needed tool in order to be a successful student (and if any of you readers are perspective students or parents of perspective students, I will say this, “A New Computer Is Necessary for College!” )

I also made sure to keep up with Project 21 (which is located on my website: Staphon.com) with a near miss on Saturday, but I got it done at 11:30, just in time!

Whelp, tis all for this week! It is Monday now and so far, all is going pretty well! I’ll keep you posted on anything exciting!

Cheers!

PS: That bit of Japanese at the top is Hiragana for Owari which means “the end”.

What a week!

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

Hey Blog Readers! It’s Ellie and I’m soooo excited to be back blogging this year talking about the undergrad experience, now from the eyes of a sophomore (which, have you know it… means wise fool… which I might have to write about at a later date). These first few weeks of getting settled in and starting classes have been a whirlwind, but I’ve been so so so blessed with encouraging mentors, challenging and enlivening professors, a RA who basically rocks my socks, and my roommates who, honestly, I almost get choked up about how blessed I feel to have them as the people I share life and a home with for this year. So I made a little video to just show a little bit of my life right now. Sooooo here it goes!

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