Minnesotahh!

The visit I have looked forward to! Finally, a city where I feel like I might actually know someone.

I got to see lots of friends from the Twin Cities area during my week in Minneapolis, and it ended with my friends', Lindsey Loomer and Trent Jacobson, wedding! It was a Kappa/Sig Ep wedding, so a TON of ISU friends were there. It was SO good to see everyone and have a GREAT time at the wedding. The ceremony was beautiful, the reception TOO fun, and of course Lindsey looked GORGEOUS!

First of all, I landed in Minneapolis and it was RAINY NASTY COLD!.. I guess I should have expected the cold part from MinneSNOWta!

The house at the U of M is actually houseS. 40 total live in the 2 houses, but one of them is called the "annex" where I got to stay. The members said they would run across the little driveway in between the houses to the kitchen during the winter in just their shorts and flip flops. CRAZY GIRLS! Especially since I know how cold and snowy it can get up there!

New Renovations in the main house!

My "home" for the week, the annex. The main house is to the left in this picture. To the right is I-35. Literally. Right there. We wont even get into my story about that, right mom and Kaitlyn?...

Main House! It even has a cute little swing hanging from the tree.

Sadly, my suitcase did not hold any warm clothes or shoes for me to wear during my stay in Minnesota, so I was trapped inside most of the time. I did get a campus tour and got to see the Mall part of campus which looks like ISU's campus by the library. The campus at the U of M is HUGE HUGE HUGE though, and there are different ones with shuttles to them all. Of course, I had to take a picture of the stadium. (Note: I refrained from bringing up the 2009 Insight Bowl results, even though it was tempting too. The people who go to the school admit their football team is not great, haha)

Not the greatest picture, but I have to admit the stadium was impressive and new looking. ALSO impressed by the BWW located right across the street. I'm suprised I didn't skip right over the stadium to take a picture of that!

My friend from school, Kaitlyn, who works at General Mills took me out for coffee one night, and we ended up having an interesting adventure in the great city of Minneapolis. Naturally, I had to go to Target, and we got our friend who was having a GOLDEN birthday (25 on the 25th) some golden gifts. We also decided it was a great idea to take pictures of our trip. The further details of this journey will remain untold...

GOLDEN ARCHES. Good idea, right?

Turns out, wrong idea....

Also, I got to see my Kappa friend, Kristin from ISU who I just found out moved up to the Twin Cities at the beginning of the semester, too! It was SOOO great catching up with her. She was the first person I met at ISU because she was a Cyclone Aide at my orientation. Her and my dad hit it off right away, so I know he was jealous I got to see her!

Adding to the ISU trend, I got to get lunch with Emily Davis, a fellow Kinesiology major, who lives in the Twin Cities. We went to Five Guys, another first for me! So great to catch up and we made homecoming/Living history farms race plans. 

For my first official weekend off, I got to stay with my friend, Kimberly, who lives with her sister Andrea in St. Paul. She came and picked me up (I feel so useless without a car), all my luggage, and took me to her and her sister's place... passing by many Mexican grocery stores and spanish signs, which I naturally translated for her. She had gotten stuff for a mexican fiesta feast, so we had a HUGE dinner and skyped with our friend Amanda in Nebraska. It was SOOOO fun to be reunited at last :)

OUR MEXICAN FEAST!!!

Our mexican desserts.. exactly what we ate when Kimmie, Amanda and I went to Mexico together.

The next day, Kimberly took me to meet up with our family friends, the Fullers, who were visiting Karly who now goes to Bethel! They had so very kindly agreed to bring me some warmer clothing, which was VERY necessary because I had only been prepared for the hot and humid summer weather of the south. I also sent plenty of clothing back with them, so don't worry, I stayed under the 50# limit (cutting it close, though!) 

Then, Kimberly chauffeured me across the cities to the hotel where the wedding reception was going to be and where my friends and I had a room for Saturday night. I owe Kimmie big time for giving up a lot of her morning to help this car-less one with huge amounts of luggage make her way everywhere (without a GPS, mind you! Now THATS a pro!) 

The wedding was SOOOO beautiful! It was great to see all my Delta Omicron ISU Kappa sistas ;) And SO fun to have a mini ISU reunion! Here are some pictures of us and the lovely couple. It was such a joy to share in their special day, and the reception of course was a blast!

Lizzie and I, roomates once again for the weekend!

 Annette was a bridesmaid, and Jim came from Delaware! Fav couple award :) besides the bride and groom of course!

 All the roomies for the weekend: Me, Ginny, Kelsey, and Lizzie

 Mr. and Mrs. Jacobsen cutting the cake!

Little Loomer and me! Beautiful maid of honor!

Got to see my big sis and big brother? Ok maybe thats going to far, but it was so great to see Heather and Mike. Crazy to think it was their wedding a year and a half ago!

 All the Kappas and the bride :)

 All of the Sig Eps serenading Lindsey!

Me, an LC, and 2 more LCs! I finally fit in! (Lizzie Clark and Lizzie Casper, get it?) 

All in all, a GREAT week that exceeded my expectations, and definitely wore me out. I am lucky that my cousin Brittany could meet up with me for breakfast on Sunday morning. We did have a difficult time deciding where to go, but no fear because Bernard's always figure it out and we wound up at a bagel place right of the interstate (at least, i think it was off the interstate. Luckily Brittany has a smart phone that was our handy dandy guide and we probably wouldnt have found a place without it. She also thankfully took me to the airport to catch my flight to O'Hare, which was its own adventure of finding the bus in Chicago to take me to Bloomington, and my next visit! Long Story Short: I survived. I made the bus. I made it to Bloomington in one piece.Hallelujah!

Love you all!

x's and o's from the Land of Lincoln
Allison