a glimpse into my LC journey: January 2012

So punny, I know.
As my last visit of the semester, I made the most of my time in West Lafayette, IN and definitely got in the Christmas spirit while helping the Purdue Kappas decorate their house, and watching them be serenaded each night by a different fraternity. It snowed while I was there, so it really began to feel a lot like Christmas!!! I got to walk around campus and the town one of the nicer days, so I was happy to get outside in the "fresh" air....except for the fact that one of the girls told me that Purdue ACTUALLY smells bad because of the Wabash river that runs next to is and because of the industrial factories and from these berry/nut things from the trees on campus. Who knew? After that comment, I did begin to notice that Purdue literally stinks.

One of the other funny traditions I learned about were their tailgating "rituals". They call it the "Breakfast Club", and they dress up in costumes for EVERY GAME. Not just during Halloween. EVERY GAME they dress up in a costume.. not even a specific theme, just whatever. Strange, but hey, to each their own!

Found the stadium!

PurDONT

Panorama!

Kinda cute, Purdue...

Amphitheater where the band plays before games! And yes, I hiked in the snow to take this picture.

Campus!

Brushing up on my Boilermaker history.

Excuse me, are you making boilers?

GORGEOUS and HUGE Kappa House

During my walk to downtown West Lafayette across the SMELLY wabash river

Town Square

Just telling time with the sundial.

Campus again.. the buildings all have to be the same height!

I also got to meet up with a couple of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity consultants one night. One went to Iowa, and knew Meggie, one of my fellow LC's, so they heard I was in town and we met up. It was fun to get out and talk about our semesters and to hear about life as a fraternity consultant. They drive everywhere, and are only on campuses for 3 days. And i thought I traveled a lot!

FINALLY.. HOME SWEET HOME for a WHOLE MONTH! The longest I had been in one place in the past 4 months! Lets just say I was overwhelmed by my closet and the simple pleasure of being able to choose ANY pair of shoes, ANY t shirt, ANY clothing at all, AND to not have to worry if I would have enough clean clothes. Did i mention how great it was to be home with my family and friends!!!?

Blessed beyond belief!!!!
x's and o's from the final leg of 2011--32 flights, 23 airports, 14 later,
-Allison

NEW FAVORITE BIG 10 SCHOOL!

MICHIGAN WAS AWESOME, and I LOVED ANN ARBOR!
The weather might have been a little deceiving, as I'm not sure its normal to be able to walk around outside in the middle of November in only a cardigan, skirt, leggings, and boots. It was my ideal running weather, and there were great places to run!

The girls were so nice and welcoming, and their cook and "bus boys" reminded me of ISU Kappa all joking around with the girls and having fun! It was a great house to be at right before going home for Thanksgiving.

I was there the weekend before the clash of the blue and red (nebraska.. eew), so the girls were all excited for the game, and I wished I could have stayed for it, too. I had to get back to IOwa for the Living History Farms race on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, though, not to mention I was ready to be home! Turns out, I was in Ames during the big win over Oklahoma State (You're welcome, Alabama, for knocking them out of the national championship game spot!) Haha. Guess I'm some sort of good luck? Maybe? :)
Strangely enough, I had to drive to Flint from Ann Arbor to fly from the Flint airport-->Detroit-->Chicago-->Des Moines. Notice my travel pattern on this map. A=Ann Arbor. Not sure why I didn't skip the whole hour drive to Flint for a 15 min flight to Detroit, when I could have driven 20 min to Detroit from Ann Arbor. Crazy Airlines.

My First Awkward Welcome sign in the airport...But it was still sweet!

Huge, beautiful house!

Their "Rock" that they paint. You can see millions of layers of paint dried dripping off it, at least a foot thick from all the painting from different organizations over the year. It was currently painted for the big "blood battle" between Michigan and Ohio State blood drive competition.

Pretty dorm area on campus

Angell Building

Statues on the Union. The man on the left is the "perfect athlete" and faces the stadium/athletic complexes, and the man on the right is the "perfect scholar" and faces campus. Together they make the "perfect Michigan student".

Entrance to the law quad. Supposedly the only place in North America that was considered to shoot Harry Potter at!

Law Quad: Classrooms, Living, Dining, and Library all connected and together!

Outside of Law Library. It is a completely silent library, and has stained glass windows of each of the other law schools in America around the top of the room!