And Classes are OVER!!

So I had my final class today... and it didn't feel like my last class at all. We had our final lecture on hormones in brain and behavior and Professor Wee thanked us for a great semester and I walked out. It should have felt a lot different but oddly it didn't. As I walked back to my house I thought about how fast my 4 years had gone. I remember my last class in High School, jumping for joy (literally) as I RAN out of the building. Being SO excited to head off to college in just a short 2 months. Now that I am graduating from college I in no way have the say feeling. I am excited to move to the next chapter in my life, but I wouldn't mind an extra year or two in college.

Now that classes are over its time for my friends and I to celebrate the time we have left together! We planned a bunch of fun things like a senior pool party at our sorority advisers home which was a great afternoon break. We also planned a senior pub crawl. We took the St. Charles street car to some of our favorite bars. It was a really great last experience for us. We decided to do it "golf" themed because we all love a good theme.



After the pub crawl, we all went to Bruff (the campus dining hall) one last time. We all loved it as much as Freshman year. It was such a surreal experience to be in there all together. Because it was my last time I had to get a little bit of everything, a grilled cheese, the salad bar, some frozen yogurt, the pasta.... I know I know, a little excessive, but hey it was our last horrah!

Over the next week we will do a bunch of other fun stuff (and also study for finals.) I am lucky in that I only have 2 finals. I have also been very thoroughly preparing for my Honors Thesis Defense. It is in just a few days. I am really excited for the experience because it will give me the chance to talk about all of my hard work that I have been doing over the last year. Wish me luck!

Spring Break!

So when I was high school I always imagined myself going on one of those MTV worthy spring breaks when I finally made it to college. Going crazy on the beach with all of my friends, listening to great music and getting a tan. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately actually, I haven't done that. The past 2 years I have gone to my Grandmother's condo in Pensacola, FL - which is a 3 hour drive from New Orleans.

This year I decided to do something a little different. My best friend goes to the University of Florida and I have yet to visit her during college so I decided to drive down there! It was a 7 and half hour drive (which i did by myself - however not that bad because I listened to my IPOD and a book on tape). It was such a cool experience to be there! Obviously I loved seeing Sarah, but it was my first time at a big southern state school.

First of all, it literally is GATOR CITY! We did go to a bar called Gator City one night, but everywhere all you see is Blue, Orange and Aligators (not real ones, just the mascot). And Gainesville, nicknamed the swamp, really is a SWAMP! It is nothing like any other place I have been in Florida before. Sarah took me around her campus (which she loves) and I must say it is extremely beautiful, we such a new experience for me. She drives to class everyday, while here at Tulane students walk everywhere. She eats off campus everyday, where students here either make it home to get their lunch or they eat on campus and she only goes to campus for class, where students here spend tons of time on campus for many different reasons. It was just some of these little differences that made me appreciate Tulane, and the size of the school.

She took me down Fraternity and Sorority rows, which were hugely different than here. They literally have MANSIONS that the Greek students live in, all secluded and segregated from where other students live. Greek housing at Tulane is integrated with all of the homes where other students live, not secluded at all. I did ask her to drive me by the Pi Phi house at Florida, and ironically it was set on Fraternity row instead of Sorority row! Weird huh?

Because Sarah wasn't on spring break when i was, I was only there Friday - Tuesday. It was a great weekend though and I was so glad to see her! I spend the rest of my time back in New Orleans doing some school work and just laying out at the Levee. I actually got a darker tan in New Orleans than I got in Florida!

Unfortunately, I didn't take ANY pictures while I was there but I will post some more stuff later!

GO GATORS! (I had to say it)
Kelly

FINALLY ITS WARM AGAIN!

So New Orleans has been upsetting me a little lately. It actually isn't New Orleans fault at all really, its the weather! The entire country has been having a very very cold winter, and we haven't been left out of that. But in my senior year spring semester, the cold can't stop me! As we were preparing for Mardi Gras I realized that I forgot to bring back any of my winter jackets to New Orleans after Christmas break. In a desperate text to my mother I said... "Mom, If you love me, you will 2 day ship my ski jacket." Needless to say, My mother does love me, and the jacket was here 2 days later.

This Mardi Gras was a great time. For the first time in my Tulane Career, I walked from Campus to Downtown. We decided to do it starting in the early afternoon and it took us 2 hours. The walk we took was 4 miles down, straight down St. Charles. It was so fun to be with friends and just enjoy the excitement of Mardi Gras during the day. We did take a few pit stops on our way down, but we made it happily!

Since recovering from Mardi Gras, I've done a ton of fun things! We had two sorority events which were great and I just had the BEST WEEKEND!

So as I have told you before, people from New Orleans go to the "Levee" or as the locals call it, the "Fly" on nice days. This weekend, to say the least, WAS BEAUTIFUL! Both Saturday and Sunday were 70+ and Sunny! On Saturday my friends and I went to the Levee to both lay out and enjoy the sun, but also to support a great cause! At the Levee on Saturday there was a fundraising event for pediatric brain cancer. A local young boy died recently from Brain Cancer, so his family and friends organized this event to raise money and awareness for a cure. The event got together some of the best chef's in the city to donate their time and food to the cause. There were tons of tents set up outside where you could get free food and drinks (and encouraged to provide a donation for the cause!). The event was a Pork based event so most of the dishes somehow incorporated pork! Although I am a vegetarian, my friends all enjoyed the food and said it was fantastic! After the festival we just hung out by the river and got a little color. It couldn't have been a better day.

Lucky for us, today was just as beautiful! I decided to go to the Tulane Baseball game. The boys were in their 3rd game in a series against Ole Miss. They had lost the first two games of the series, but I brought some luck because they won today! They actually played a great game and won by more than 6 runs.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend and I hope New Orleans decides to stay this warm!!!

WHO DAT!

Since I last posted SO MANY amazing and fun things have happened in the city, but lets just start with the sports.

I went to my first NBA game! I went with a group of my friends and because of some awesome connections we were able to sit in a luxury suite! It was awesome. They provided food and drinks and we had an awesome view of the court! The only disappointing part (other than the Hornets loosing) was that Kim Kardashian did not make an appearance. The word on the street is that when she is in town visiting her boyfriend Reggie Bush, they go to all of the Hornets games - maybe she was busy at an appearance that day.


Although the Hornets lost, it was a great experience. My friends and I tried VERY hard, but unsuccessfully to get on the dance cam. I think they are a little prejudiced against the people in the luxury suites - but hey I can't really complain.

NOW ON TO THE MOST EXCITING NEWS! THE SAINTS WON THE SUPERBOWL!!! Unless you don't follow football at all, I am assuming you have already heard this news but us down here just can't get enough. WHO DAT never gets old. For those of you who don't know (and I didn't until I came down to school here) WHO DAT comes from the phrase "Who Dat (that) Say They Gonna Beat Dem (them) Saints." I know, I know, it's not very proper english but it's very fun to chant.

My friends and I decided to watch the game together in a very odd, but fun, spot. We knew that all of the sports bars in the city were going to be PACKED with fans so we decided against that. Instead, a group of our guy friends pulled their couches out on to their lawn and brought two televisions outside and we watched it from there. Luckily, we had a bon fire that kept us warm. The game was SO exciting. When it looked like the saints were about to win with only 5 minutes left, we all ran down to the Boot, which is a local bar and grill to watch the winning moment with a huge crowd. Let me tell you, the Boot was PACKED! It was such a great feeling though seeing everyone go crazy after the win.

In true New Orleans spirit, the celebration could not end right there! My friends and I decided to go downtown to celebrate with everyone in the city. Not to get too emotional here with you, but on the way downtown in my friends car I actually started to tear up a bit. The experience was just so surreal. People were all over the streets and in cars cheering and yelling who dat and waving flags and saints signs. Although I'm from Connecticut and grew up as a Giants fan, in that moment I was so glad to be a part of the New Orleans community. It made me realize just how much I love this city and how badly I am going to miss it next year. The people here are so passionate about what is important to them, and it makes you feel that passionate as well. Luckily I was able to pull it together, stop the tears, and enjoy the rest of the night. I will absolutely be asking for a real Saints jersey for my next birthday.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Hello All -
So the Groundhog saw his shadow this morning and thats means 6 more weeks of winter! I hope he is wrong since Mardi Gras is only 2 weeks away and I can't handle another cold Mardi Gras! Over my past 3 years at Tulane, Mardi Gras has been COLD! I think its a little unfair of the weather gods since it is the one week that everyone in the entire city spends their time outside! So thats why I hope Phil is wrong!

The semester has started off with a bang! With sorority recruitment for the first two weekends I was extremely busy. But lucky for us, it all went really well and last weekend we finally got our New Member class of 55 girls! They are all really great and excited to join the sorority. To celebrate the new Members, the entire sorority went to Cannons, a local resturante for a dinner and desert party. They had amazing mini strawberry cheesecakes that I would definetly recommend. The night was capped off with the success of the Saints clinching their Super Bowl spot! The city went WILD, but I couldn't expect anything less. New Orleans gets excited about everything!
Now that recruitment is over, the semester can finally begin! This past sunday we had a beautifully sunny day so a group of my friends and I decided to go to the levy. "The Levy" or as the locals call it, The Fly, is a grassy area next to the Mississippi river. It is the closest thing to a beach that we have hear in New Orleans, and we love to go lay out there. Although it was only 60 degrees, the sun was shining brightly and I think I may have gotten a little color on my face.


When I came to Tulane I was introduced to a game called "Bags" or "Cornhole". I don't actually think its a southern thing, I think its more of a midwestern game, but people love to play it down here. The game is very simple, you have two wooden boards, that are slanted and have a single hole in them (Take a look at the picture to the right!). You have two teams, and there are 4 corn filled rectangular bags. A member from each team stands on each end, behind the wooden block and throws each bag one at a time toward the block on the other side. Points are accumulated from each bag that goes into the hole or lands on the block. A friend of mine brought his bags set to the Levy and I played two games and won both!

Ok off to class! Have a great Groundhog Day!

Kelly

Thanksgiving is my Favorite Holiday!

Every year my sorority has our big philanthropy event, Burgers for Books. We have a cook out where we grill burgers and sell them for $2 a piece. All the money we make, we donate to an organization called First Book. For every dollar that they receive, they donate a brand new book to a child who would not otherwise have one. We also added a new event last year called Pie a Pi Phi! For $5, anyone can throw a whipped cream pie at one of our faces! Some girls were scared the pie's, but I was actually kind of excited about it! I was one of the lucky girls to get chosen to be pied. We raised about $700 for the organizaiton which means 700 new books for kids!! I was lucky enough to grill the burgers for the second half of the night, and from what I heard they were very delicious.


So the only bad thing about going abroad was missing Thanksgiving. Although my classes ended in late October, my friends and I decided to stay for an extra month to travel. Because of this, Thanksgiving 2008 was celebrated in Queenstown, New Zealand at a restaurant called the Bunker. Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday of the entire year, so I was very excited to go home for it this year. Every year we spend the day with my Dad's family and have the same foods - everything that I love. Although many people think that Thanksgiving is about the Turkey, coming from a vegetarian let me tell you that the sides are so much better.

Back from Thanksgiving meant only 1 week left of classes! 7/8 done with college is not a fun thinkg =(

Taking Tests and Building Houses

After the fun of Halloween, it was time to get down to business! The following weekend was extremely busy. I had to take the the GRE psychology subject test, do Habitat for Humanity and then had a sorority date party!

The GRE test was not so fun, but not as bad as I had expected. It was however the longest multiple choice test I have ever taken - 240 questions! I took it at the University of New Orleans. I sat in a room with about 30 other pople who were all taking different exams, from Psychology to Math to Physics. Unline the standard GRE, the subject tests are only offered about 4 times a year. Most of the PhD programs that I am going to apply to require the GRE subject test, but not all PhD or masters programs require them. I haven't gotten my scores back yet but hopefully they are high enough to not have to take it again!

Right after taking the test, I drove to the Ninth Ward where my sorority sisters were building a house with Habitat for Humanity. I was a little late obviously because I was taking the test, but late is better than never! As a senior class, we decided to do Habitat. All of us felt that since we have lived here for almost 4 years now, that it was more than time for us to do our part in building a house. We were there until about 3 PM and we finished 3/4 of the siding on the entire house! It was a really great experience. Especially when other locals families would walk by and say thank you and tell us how greatful they were for what we were doing. I think my dad would be very proud of all of the construction work I was doing! Who knew I knew how to put up siding!


After the long day of building, I came home and took a quick nap before getting ready to go to my date party! A date party is a social event that we have where each girl gets to bring a date for a night out. It was definety a great time.

Ok, talk to you soon!
Kelly