Posts Tagged ‘Football’

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

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

Or E N tay shun…

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

You can thank my fellow 3rd North sisters for the title of this blog. Can’t you tell we are freshman? We apparently haven’t learned the art of spelling. There are currently 5 of us watching Pride and Prejudice with girls popping in and talking. Actually, we are barely watching the movie and mostly talking. I love it.

Orientation was pretty crazy. It was a bit stressful, really interesting, but mostly overwhelming for me. Which isn’t true for everyone, some kids had no problem with it all.  Overwhelming isn’t also a bad thing though, Orientation is guaranteed slight chaos anywhere you go I think. But this chaos was actually quite organized; APU has an impressive schedule that they stuck to. There was so much to do! There always was a friendly face to help us out though.  The events were really cool including a football game!

Ready to help us move in and direct us where to go :)

Ready to help us move in and direct us where to go :)

The main chaos for me was getting to know people, organizing all my stuff, and the many trips to Target my parents have taken for me. I forgot a lot of small stuff on top of the fact that we could only take so much down here in our car. Let’s just say I over-packed a bit. So far all the stuff has come in handy except maybe the art-like stuff though. I’ve brought. I may have been laying against a few boxes cornered in the backseat, but it worked! Thankfully my dorm room is pretty spacious and as lots of places for drawers and boxes :).

The photos on my wall in the dorm room.

My almost completed dorm room :)

Another thing you’ll experience as a freshman is Alpha Groups! An Alpha Group is a random mix of freshman assigned to a sophomore who helps us through orientation and our first semester of freshman year. I really do like my Alpha group. My leader Jen is nice, sincere and really chill. Our group gets along pretty well and we were all open the first night, sharing the fun and scary parts of Orientation. It’s been nice just to talk about Orientation together and know that other people are coming without knowing anyone else.

A few members of my Alpha group on the trolley :)

A few members of my Alpha group on the trolley :)

I’ll definitely be talking more about my hall (3rd North!!) in my next blog! I was planning on staying on the topic of orientation so I guess I’ll just make hall stories relate :) The first night of Orientation I stopped by my RA’s room to just say hi. An RA is a Resident Adviser, which basically means an upperclassman has decided to live in our hall all year to support, counsel, and love on us. Her roommate is called a RAR (Resident Advisor’s roommate) and they usually aren’t very involved in the hall.  Instead, Jaclyn decided that she is going to be super involved with 3rd North and we all think it is awesome!! They invited me to come hangout with them in the dorms and watch a movie with them. It was so nice! Megan is such an awesome RA and it was nice just to be able just relax and hang out.

The next night I went to the football game with my alpha leader Jenn, another Alpha leader Bianca and a girl from her group. It was really cool to experience the game with all of the APU students. The field was packed! It was really fun but we decided to leave before the game was over so we could head to Tutti Fruity.

Hanging out at the football game.

Hanging out at the football game.

Tutti Fruity is a frozen yogurt place right across from the college.  APU students get a discount and it very delicious! Our alpha leaders took us to a sophomore living area and we played slap uno with a bunch of their friends. It was really neat to see all of the different living areas, plus be able to meet people who could talk about their fun experiences at APU. I even met someone who lived in my city for a few years and went to my high school’s rival which was really exciting! I haven’t met a lot of people from around where I lived.

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While writing my blog earlier I overheard a conversation between a hall sister and her family. I wasn’t eavesdropping I swear! Both of our doors were open (which is the best way to meet people in your hall). I asked her afterwards if I could use something she said in my blog anonymously. She said yes so here it goes:

“I’ve never been anywhere where people are so genuine and real. I don’t know how to act sometimes because I can truly just be myself and it’s not a problem. For the first time I can act like me and everyone is okay with it. They’re here because they believe in God and they are so open about their faith.”

Beautiful (and very true) words from a ‘sister’ in my hall.