It Has Begun

I know it has been a while. The craziness has ensued. To try and make up for it I have some pictures to share.

Havighurst Hall. 300 Residents. 11 RAs. My home for the next year.

 

This was our opening check-in station. Miami has moved to electronic cards that are very similar to Sonoma's. One difference is that with Miami's system if a resident locks themsleves out they can text a number and a satellite will unlock their room automatically. Needless to say Miami is very fancy. It has been very different living in a traditional hall but I am liking it so far.

Jess, Delaney, Andrew, and Trish. Some of the RAs at check-in.

These are the two RAs I directly supervise. Robin who is a Senior and wants to be a teacher (she is looking into Teach for America) and Ray is a 2nd year and starting to get more involved and declare his major.

After move in we had an All-Hall meeting. These are some residents that live in the hall.

Full RA staff. From Left: Robin. Jess. Jim. Graham. Shelly. Delaney. Ray. Trish. Kyle. Kristen. Andrew

Adam (my supervisor) and I

For a little fun and to get out of the "ox box" I got to go to a Reds v Cubs game. A family had extra tickets so for $5 I got to sit in the field section on the third base line.

I went to the game with two of my favs Zak and Ashleigh. Zak is HUGE cubbies fan.

This weekend was Community Council Training. This is Andrew and Kyle, the two RAs that help me advise.

It is a tradition that every year someone wins a jar of pickles ( no one seems to know why) and this year Andrew won.

Havighurst Community Council. Our theme was "90s Cosby Sweaters" and we won best dressed. Great day overall with great people.

 Classes are going amazing as well. I have definitley "drank the koolaid" and I am really enjoying Foundations of Students Affairs and Theory. Just finished with Kegan and a little Marsha Baxter-Magolda (of course). My life is consumed with work and reading but I really can't complain other than not having the time to keep in touch but know I am always thinking of you all and miss you so much!!!

They're Coming

I do not have any fun pictures to post but I wanted to give some updates since it has been a while so pictures to come.

Since the last post I have been able to move into Havighurst. Still not completely unpacked and there is still a lot of construction but it is nice to finally be in my hall. We finished the professional staff training and last weekend the Resident Assistants moved in which meant their training started and we have been going 8 to 8 everyday and then after that I have to work on various stuff so it has been a bit crazy. I really like my staff. All 11 of them bring something different. They are very excited but not in an overwhelming way. They have been really good about bonding and working on all of their tasks. Training is very different here than when I was a CSA at Sonoma. During the day is mostly outside speakers like Athletics coming in to do their spiel and then at night is when we actually do training about things such as programming, opening meetings, roommate agreements, etc. Training has taken over my life so I am excited for it to be over soon.

Classes start a week from tomorrow! Books for 2 of 3 classes are ordered and I am very excited. I don't know if I am ready because all I have been thinking about is Residence Life but I will get there. As soon as my office is set up I will feel better. I am also getting to teach a first year transition course (for Sonoma UNIV 102). I do not have a peer mentor but I am excited to work with students in a different way.

I have made some really close connections with a few individuals over the past weeks. Ashleigh is from New York originally and worked in Virginia this past year full time as a hall director. She brings this great outlook on life and a whole different way of thought. She is a great person to talk to for advice and interact with about personal development.  Zak is from Illinois and he just graduated from Western Illinois but he took a year off to work on the Obama campaign (how cool is that!). His area of study is men's development and has a great point of view coming from a heterosexual male perspective towards Woman and LGBTQ issues. Erika is from Massachusetts and graduate from an all woman's school. It has been really interesting to get to talk to her about feminism and woman's issues. I am really looking forward to getting to know them all better.

Wednesday we have early arrivals, Thursday is opening, and this weekend is stacked full of events. I am really interested to see how 17,000 people are going to live in this small town which is basically just one main street that consists of three blocks. I am very curious what the student population is going to be like. I have heard they are some of the most priviledge students (I don't know if I mentioned that there are services where students can have someone clean their room and do their laundry every other week). Things are about to get interesting.

Kofenya, California

7.18.11-7.24.11

I have made it through my first full week of training. I have been learning a lot about the department and other parts of campus. It has been a really good experience so far and I am feeling like I am getting my feet planted. It has also been a really cool experience because even though I am a graduate student Residence Life still views all graduate students as professional staff. I talked with my supervisor Adam this week and had a really good conversation on how he sees us as being a team and both running the residence hall. He is very supportive of me getting the experience that I want/need. With that I will get to directly supervise 2-3 resident assistants and will also get to hold conduct meetings with residents that are documented for breaking policy. Next week we will be starting training on academic advising and hopefully I will to get to move into my hall.

Everything else is going really well too. Starting to get to know people more and its funny because almost everyone has talked to me about being scared of not making connections (which is exactly how I was feeling).

 
So this is kind of an awkward picture but I didn't have anything else. I am currently sitting at Kofenya coffee shop with my bottomless ice coffee working. This is a picture of the bathroom (thus it is an awkward picture) but it shows the style of the coffee shop. Needless to say I already love it here (and how it feels like an artsy California place) and will be spending a great deal of time here working on papers.

One Week

7.11.11 - 7.17.11

I have officially been in Oxford for one week now and so far so good. I am really liking the town and the people that I am meeting. Monday and Tuesday was mostly used just to start meeting people that had arrived and gearing up for training. On Wednesday we started ORL (Office of Residence Life) training. Wedneday through Friday was basically just getting acquainted to the department and overall how it operates. Looking at vision and mission statements, meeting your professional team staff, learning the Residential Cirriculum (kind of like how the department puts on programs and meetings in the halls), and basic welcoming.

Friday night the group of graduate students that are in my class and working for ORL all got together for dinner. It was great having the 19 of us together and I am excited for when the other graduate students that are in the program and in my cohort (class of 2013) come. I was a little anxious of meeting the individuals I was going to be spending the next two years with and not sure what kind of individuals I would be meeting. I really like everyone and am excited to get to know them. It takes me a while to "warm up" to people and form close relationships but I am staying optimistic that it will happen and keep reminding myself that I have not been here very long and I have the next two years to build relationships, either way they are stuck with me ;) This weekend was spent hanging out around the town (mostly in a coffee shop) and getting things crossed off my to do list for work. Getting ready for another week of training and looking forward to everything I will be learning and conversations I will be having.

Howdy Ohio

7. 10.11

 

We drove out of Illinois, spent a bit of time in Indiana, and reached Ohio!! As soon as I got to Miami there was already a group of individuals to help move me in, including my supervisor, a First Year Advisor (hall director) that interviewed me, and the Director of Residence Life and Housing.  It was a little overwhelming to say the least but everything was out of my car and into my temporary room (I'll be moving into my Hall, Havigurst, early August) in 15min. Like I said a little overwhelming. I drove around Oxford and campus a bit to try and get acquainted with everything and start settling in. More pictures of the town and campus to come.

I had a great end of the day at  dinner with a few great people including the amazing Kira Newman (a bestie that went to Sonoma and just finished her first year at Miami) and my buddy Justin!! The program pairs a first year and second year graduate student together to help the first year transition and provide support and community. There was a lot of laughs and catching up and I am really looking forward to meeting more students in the program.

I am still trying to get my head on straight but I am so EXCITED to finally be here and start my new adventure!

Welcome to Oxford - Home of Miami University

The Windy City

7.9.2011
 

There is a little bit of the skyline in there.

2nd Oldest Ballpark in the Country

One Side of the City from the Skydeck 

We had a whirlwind of a day in the windy city. We got everything crossed off our list but there was a lot more to see.  I will definitely need to go back to see more of the city and some museums.  We started out at Millennium Park and saw the bean, went to the Lincoln Park Zoo (the poor polar bear looked so hot), went to Wrigley Field, went on a bus tour (It was really cool to be up high on a double decker bus in the city. There was so much I learned about the history and architecture of the city), got some Garrett Popcorn and Chicago Dogs, and finished the day at the Skydeck at Sears (aka Willis) Tower, and we only got lost once in the beginning of the day (win). Now gearing up for the final destination of Ohio.

Lost in Chicago

 7.8.2011

We made it to Chicago! We had a short drive to the windy city (compared to the last few days) and got a chance to walk around and explore. We got "lost" a few times but that seems to happen if you ever travel with me.

We went to dinner at Gino's East Pizzareia on Superior. It was a great landmark to see and get to take Joey to celebrate his graduation on the trip.  

All the walls were covered just like this.

Casey'Dilla

7.7.2011

Happy Birthday to baby Georgia and Congratulations to Julie and Brynn. So happy for your family!!

We drove through the rest of Colorado, made it all the way through Nebraska, and finished the day in Iowa. 








We didn't see a state sign for Iowa so I was not able to get a picture but as promised we saw a lot of corn fields.

All throughout Nebraska and Iowa (and Illinois) there have been these Casey's Geberal Store gas stations. Made me chuckle. You can even get a delicious Casey'Dilla :)

Colorful Colorado

7.6.2011

Joey and I finished driving through Utah today and then made our way to Colorado. After we went through Denver we drove through an insane rain storm and I'm not talking, "I'm from California, any water from the sky freaks me out;" I mean it was intensely pouring along with more lightning. Better get use to it :)

 

I know it is not the most economical or environmentally friendly thing to do but if you ever get the chance I definitely suggest taking a road trip. It has been so cool to get to see different parts of the states. Today almost the whole time we were driving in Colorado we were next to the Colorado River, so pretty! Now we are resting in Sterling, CO and tomorrow off to Nebraska.

Now Leaving California

7.5.2 011

Joey (my "little" brother) and I started the adventure today. We left a little later in the morning but made pretty good progress.

 When we were first driving through Nevada it was raining a pretty decent amount and then throughout the drive there was some lightning, other than that nothing too exciting weather wise. When we left Nevada there was a bunch of flash flood warnings on the radio for Vegas, who knew there could be flooding in Las Vegas in the middle of the heat wave of July.

                                              We got to see a short bit of Arizona. Shout-out to K.T. who is in Arizona right now teaching summer school for Teach for America. Arizona was gorgeous, the whole time we drove through I was in awe. The picture above does not give it justice.

      The last state we reached was Utah. Literally as soon as we drove over the state line the song "One in a Million Girl" came on. Total sign of the my one of a million TCall.  We have landed safely in Cedar City, Utah for the night.
No hitchhikers yet and the good luck necklace is working its magic perfectly.

Save Me San Francisco

7.2.2011

After much debate in my head I decided to take the extra time and drive down the 101 to go to San Diego. It was a gorgeous morning with the fog covering the Golden Gate and the rest of the drive was beautiful next to the pacific. There were a few more tears in the beginning to be saying goodbye to Sonoma but there were some nice phone conversations with some special ladies that helped. I am sad to be leaving so many great friends but am getting excited for the new adventure I will be starting soon. The drive went well but I was happy when I saw the Welcome to Poway signs. Even though I definitely want to end up in the Pacific Northwest and I have begun to say I am from Sonoma when I introduce myself to new people Poway still gives me that warm coming home feeling. Happy to be with the family now making plans and cracking jokes, if you ever meet them (especially my dad) you will see where I get my dry sense of humor and all my sass.

Save Me, San Francisco - Train

"What are you doing here? I thought you graduated? Why are you still here?"

7.1.2011

Today was my last day at SSU. I have had an amazing last year which can easily be themed “What are you doing here? I thought you graduated? Why are you still here?” I have been so blessed this last year working with so many wonderful individuals at Sonoma State and Larson Family Winery and have learned and grown so much. I have been surrounded by so many incredible friends and have really gained a family; I must have done something real good in a previous life to be as lucky as I am in this one. I can not express how thankful I am for everyone who has been in my life these last past years and I am sad to be closing this very special chapter of my life.

If I said everything I wanted to say about this past year at Sonoma, all my visits to Danville, and everyone I love we would be here all day but I hope everyone knows how much they mean to me and how fortunate I am to have had them be a part of my life.

Today was filled with lots of goodbyes ( some people I think I said goodbye to five times, every time thinking that was the last time I was going to see them but then being pleasantly surprised to say goodbye again), great send-offs, and some tears. Thank you to everyone at ResLife for the lunch and goodbye gifts (my little brother is very excited for the snacks), Cyndie for one last one on one (for now), Jac for letting me stop by even while she was busy with packing, my other half of Csquared for everything this past 2weeks/3years, and the wolfpack for finishing the day off just right.