Extracurriculars

When you're in high school you do them to get into college. However when I was in college I loved every activity I did. I just kept finding and applying for new clubs but I never wanted to quit the old ones so I ended up doing A LOT of activities.

I was an orientation leader.
My Orientation Leader was okay but I couldn't meet at the evolution time; so I got a new group and my OL was Josh who was awesome. I loved him and wanted to be like him so I applied to be an OL. I was ecstatic when I was selected. Being an orientation leader is a lot more than just getting a group of freshmen. We had 6 training sessions in the spring. then we come back 10 days before everyone else in the fall and have 4 days where we train from 8 am to 10 pm. then someone usually has an OL social gathering at night, then we wake up and do the same thing again. We get split up into these "families" each fun by an orientation coordinator. You are supposed to stay with this same group all through orientation. Its really fun and you all usually become really close and good friends. Many people do orientation because of the training aspect, I on the other hand just loved being able to lead and acclimate the freshmen to Lehigh. I love Lehigh so so much and was delighted to have the opportunity to share my zeal for Lehigh with new students. I'm still friends with a couple of my old freshmen :) Then I had the chance to plan and run transfer orientation in the winter, which was really fun! It was cool to think that by my senior year, every single student at Lehigh was either in my class or had an OL who I knew. So 2 degrees of separation between anyone on campus!

I was a Class Officer & worked for the Alumni Association.
This was one of my favorites! I loved being a class officer and getting to represent Lehigh class of 2011. I also loved our class officer advisers and my fellow class officers :)

I was in Leadership Lehigh.
Leaderhigh as we sometimes called it, is a 4 year leadership program through which I organized a healthy heart awareness week and made a documentary on youth violence.

I worked for the Women's Center.
 I enjoyed working in this inclusive environment with so many individuals who are driven to create change. One of my favorite things I did was the Vagina Monologues! The cast was made up of a fabulous group of ladies! And we raised $25,000!

I was on the Lehigh Club Tennis team.
I love tennis! See last blog post.

I was the AMWA president.
AMWA is an awesome club for women in the science field. It was usually a small group of amazing young ladies.

I was in APO.
Community service fraternity through which I did lots of volunteer work.

These are things I did for a semester:
I didn't do too much for ISA but once I helped emcee Diwali. I played Rugby for a semester. I worked in Linderman Library for a year. I was the VP of hall council in campus square. I worked at Fairmart library for a year. I worked at Taylor Gym for a semester. I babysat. I was on team '11 (like student council). I tutored through America Counts America Reads. I interned for One Student for a semester. And I joined a sorority - well for a little then realized that I really couldn't do it all.

I feel like all these activities at Lehigh changed me and helped me to grow as a person. It was one of the reasons why I was always so excited to get back to Lehigh after a long summer.
I think I made the most of my Lehigh Experience!

Bleeding Brown & White forever!   

"If you're not actively involved in getting what you want, you don't really want it." ~ Peter McWilliams

"When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better."

"You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of the referee." ~ Napolean Hill

Tennis

I have been playing tennis for the majority of my life. I was actually born 10 days early because my mom decided to play tennis when she was 9 months pregnant with me and fell and broke her water. In middle school I decided that I wanted to try out for my high school tennis team so I practiced a lot with my dad. I was devastated when I didn't make the tennis team at the beginning of the summer. But it is not like me to just give up on something. So I practiced and I practiced and I made the team at retryouts in the fall! I was ecstatic.

We had 10 girls on the Freshmen tennis team and I ended up being in the top half of the ladder most of the year. I played some singles and some doubles. My very first tournament I played doubles with Liz and we got first place! I was so happy. Tennis taught me to never give up. Never give up on a dream, a goal, a tournament, a match or even a point. I am grateful for the discipline that tennis has taught me.

I played on my high school tennis team for 3 years and then I played on the Lehigh club tennis team for 4 years (though my senior year I didn't play much because I had mono.) It was really fun playing on the club team because it was competitive tennis and we played against harvard, rutgers, princeton syracuse and other schools, but it was still pretty chill. I got the chance to play on the US open tennis courts which was awesome! I love tennis and still try to play when I can. My dad has a group of guys that all play on Sunday mornings so whenever they have an odd number of people I usually play with them. But it's very different playing with 7 - 50 year old men.

My favorite tennis players are Andy Roddick, Venus, Serena, Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal. I met Andy Roddick and have an autographed picture of him! And I met Nadal at the US open and got his autograph!

"Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome." ~ Arthur Ashe 

"Love is nothing in tennis, but in life it is everything." 

"Life is like a game of tennis; the player who serves well seldom loses."

Remember, remember the 5th of November

In honor of the 5th on November and to mitigate my boredom I decided to watch V for Vendetta yesterday. I have seen the movie before but I don't think I fully understood it, when I watched it 6 years ago. This time I loved it! These were some things that I got out of the movie:

~ An idea can change the world.
~ Fairness, justice and freedom are more than just words, they are perspectives.
~ People should not be scared of their government, government should be scared of their people.
~ Symbols are only given power by people.
~ Artists used lies to tell the truth, politicians use lies to cover the truth.
~ Our integrity sells for so little but it is all we really have.
~ I remember when different became dangerous
~ Beneath this mask there is more than flesh, there is an idea, and ideas are bullet proof.

Very profound for a movie. I was really impressed and V for Vendetta is definitely one of my favorite movies now!

Change the World

The Dash Poem

by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak

At the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone

From the beginning to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth

And spoke of the following date with tears,

But he said what mattered most of all

Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time

That she spent alive on earth 

And now only those who loved her 

Know what that little line in worth.

For it matters not, how much we own,

The cars, the house, the cash,

What matters is how we live and love

And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard;

Are there things you'd like to change?

For you never know how much time is left

That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough

To consider what's true and real

And always try to understand

The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger

And show appreciation more

And love the people in our lives

Like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect

And more often wear a smile,

Remembering that this special dash 

Might only last a little while.

So where your eulogy is being read

With your life's actions to rehash

Would you be proud of the things they say

About how you spend you dash?

The first time I heard this poem, I think it was in leadership lehigh, I just fell in love with it. It is so true. When you die you cannot take your house or car or even the shirt on your back for that matter. We don't know how long our dash is going to be, so we need to make the most of it, because when your eulogy is read you will only be remembered for the dash between the years.

I've heard a lot of people say that they want to change the world. (me included) Well that is definitely not an easy task! But how do we really change the world? It can be done in so many different ways, as a teacher, a doctor, a mentor, or a philanthropist, but first we need to change ourselves. 

I was listening to the radio yesterday and "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson was playing. "I see the kids in the street without enough to eat." "I'm starting with the man in the mirror. I'm asking him to change his ways. No message could have been any clearer. If you want to make the world a better place. Take a look at yourself and make that change." Michael Jackson could not have said it better. Before we can go out and change the world we need to first change ourselves.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Gandhi

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us." ~Nelson Mandela

To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better...To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I cant do." ~Edward Halecould

Sisters

Sisters share a special bond and I am so lucky to have  an amazing sister! She has always been there for me, through thick and thin. And we just have such a great time together! I can never be bored when she's around- too bad she decided to go all the way to Canada for college! I'm trying to convince her to transfer to Lehigh or UT. I told her if she went to Lehigh that I was coming back with her!!! Canada is just way too far!

For some reason nobody liked calling my sister by her real name so since she was young I used to make up nicknames for her. She'll go by almost anything! We've called her pooshoo, pouchy, and then I played the game of life and there was a square called "moo-shoo floo attack." Since then I've called her moo, moo-shoo, mooshy, moo-moo, moo-moo-bear. Then I read the old man and the sea and the man's name was santiago, I liked something about that name so I called her santiago for a while. Then I watched this lifetime movie where this girl was kidnapped when she was young. Then she found her real family and discovered she had a dad. So she runs up to him and goes I have a POPPPPY! So now my sister's name is poppy, pops, popsy, popsies, and it's stuck for a while now :)

Anyway I don't know what I would do without my poppy! And I'm glad I don't have to share my poppy. She only has classes on tues & thurs so we skype almost everyday of the week... sometimes we just have each other on skype while we are doing other things and don't even talk to each other! It's almost like she is here and we are hanging out!

Don't get me wrong we've had our fair share of fighting- and scars for that matter! But I think we're pretty much over the cat fights now :) And we can talk to each other about anything and everything! She's one awesome little sister!

P.S Dad's really mad at us because our phone bill was double what it usually is. #nomoretexting :( Canada's not even really a different country it shouldn't count as international texts. I think we should just go with the but we just love and miss each other so much route, when we get in trouble! So naturally the first thing I did when dad got mad at me was to text you, Poppy... haha oops.

"If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child."  ~Linda Sunshine

"A younger sister is someone to use as a guinea-pig in trying sledges and experimental go-carts. Someone to send on messages to Mum. But someone who needs you - who comes to you with bumped heads, grazed knees, tales of persecution. Someone who trusts you to defend her. Someone who thinks you know the answers to almost everything."

~ Pam Brown

"Most are like my sister and me... linked by volatile love, best friends who make other best friends ever so slightly less best."  ~Patricia Volk

"A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life."  ~Isadora James

"She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child."
~ Barbara Alpert


"My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get," ~ My Wish by Rascal Flatts

Holiday Wish List

Now that Halloween is over and it's officially November that means the holiday season is just around the corner! Christmas already?! It just feels so early. As soon as Nov 1st hits stores and businesses whip out all their holiday stuff. Stores are going to start putting out Christmas displays and people are going to start looking for the perfect gifts for friends and family. And Starbucks switched to the red holiday cups, my favorite! I do not celebrate Christmas for religious reasons... just for fun. I mean who doesn't love the lights, trees and the spirit of giving!

In my search for employment I've been bored and poor. Usually when I get emails from anthropologie, or free people, or nordstroms i just delete them, because I am usually too busy too online shop. But it seems that I have a lot of time on my hands lately so I open the emails and then something catches my eye.... so I click on it and it takes me to their site. And then I fall in love, sometimes it's the perfect dress, and other times the most adorable pair of shoes. Then I leave the website open on my computer for days looking at this item (that I definitely don't need) but absolutely love. And then I think responsibly  to myself - for the price of those shoes I could apply to 2 grad schools. I know I can be a nerd, but it's reality. So I started just adding everything I like to wish lists. And now I can just put anything I like on there and revisit them whenever I like! I don't expect anyone to ever buy me anything off the lists but I like just having everything I want together. I think wish lists are a great idea and I am glad that I finally discovered them :)  

I know that material things are not important in life, but a girl could always use a new pair of shoes right? :)

My sister looked at my Nordstrom's wish list and her only advice to me was "You better marry rich, very very rich."

I mean they always say you have to dream big to win big, right?

I fell in LOVE with this watch 4 yrs ago. Sometimes I still dream of it....

 "Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success."                                                            "Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celibrate just living"                           "Once again we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice."

LEHIGH. Semester 7. Final year- First Semester.

LEHIGH

Potential reasons why my first semester of my final year at lehigh stunk:

I hurt my foot and couldn't walk.  

I got Mono.

I was so tired. all. the. time.

3 weeks with 101-104 fever.

I got 20 parking tickets.

My license plates got stolen.

My blackberry got lost/stolen.

My car got grafittied with blood red paint.

My car got stuck in a ditch.

Had to get my car towed.

Continually got sick after mono.

Lost my voice multiple times.

My wallet that was stolen last semester was found on the roof of campus square.

Was taking 20 credits while I had mono.

My french teacher didn't like me. I dropped French.

I almost failed all of my classes.

Good things that came from these bad things:

Since I didn't do one of the activities I planned on, I applied to work at the Women's Center, which changed my life for the better :)

I met awesome ladies at the women's center.   

I joined the cast of Vagina Monologues.

We had girl's nights.

I couldn't drink. 

My dad overnighted me peanut dumplings from my favorite restaurant ever!

My wallet that was stolen last semester was found on the roof of campus square.

Not having a blackberry was like being temporarily free.

My blackberry was randomly returned. #random acts of kindness.

I got 18 parking tickets appealed and became friends with the parking services lady.

I realized that the Lehigh DOS is amazing! Thanks :)

My new license plate is BAT VAN. 

I passed all of my classes and graduated with a B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience.

I realized that I have AWESOME friends. Thanks :)

Well it wasn't quite the semester I had planned, but I think I grew a lot as a person! The good things outweigh the bad things. #SilverLining and it makes for quite the funny story! I still love Lehigh!

"Get out the old silver goblet
with Lehigh upon it
and we'll open up another keg of beer.
MORE BEER!
For we all came to college,
but we didn't come for knowledge,
So we'll raise hell while we're here."
- Lehigh fight song