Trinity College.

Trinity College. Hartford, Connecticut. Happens to be THEE most dangerous/ghetto place in Connecticut, so naturally I'm thrown into the middle of it. Who would have thought?

While the house was in a sketchy area, the SMALL and i mean SMALL college campus area was fenced in, swarming with campus security and cameras, so it was safe and only a block away from the house I stayed in with 8 Kappas for the week. Luckily, I arrived AFTER the freak ice/snow storm so it was pretty fall weather, but there were MASSIVE amounts of trees and powerlines down. The house I stayed in had been in the 1% of houses that didn't lose power during the storm, too!

ALSO, I got some great news! One of the Kappas told me her uncle lived in IOWA! I was like, "No way, where?"
Kappa, "Oh, right outside Boise! Isn't that a big town?"
Me- "............Uh........sure..."

Gotta love the classic Idaho/Iowa confusion. Didn't even bother correcting her.

Not much to say about it, except that the highlight of my week was FRIDAY when it was 11/11/11. I went to bed at 6pm 11/10/12 and set my alarm for 11:59 pm to wake up JUST IN TIME for 11/11/11 so I didn't miss ONE second. I spent the wee hours of the morning watching The Office, updating my blog, painting my finger nails, packing, talking to my friends that called/texted me because it was 11/11, and going on a run (don't worry, right around campus, not around the sketch neighborhood). Then it was off to Chicago for the weekend where I got to see Haley, Gracie, and Meggie (3 other LCs). Since I switched from EST to Central Time in Chicago, I got an extra hour of 11/11/11. Couldnt have planned it better!!!! It was DEFINITELY a SUCCESSFUL 11.11.11. 

Main street on the Trinity Campus

Mess of trees down in the backyard!

What is a Bantam?!

More trees down on campus

Chapel on campus, SO pretty!

Made me think of the Fuller family :)

These trees on their central campus area make a cross shape around the statue of the guy in the center. Sadly, some of these key trees fell in the storm

Exhibit A

Front of the chapel

1:11 am on 11/11/11! (and the Office in the background)

House I stayed in for the week. Our neighbors liked to blare John Mayer at all hours of the day/night.

Entrance to the college...aka safe haven.

Anddd... this is about all of campus.

11:11 am 11/11/11!!! On the way to the airport. The girl driving me thought i was crazy.

Gracie and Haley with our giant omelet that we split 3 ways at Eggsperience in Chicago.. or whatever this place was called. Opened 24/7! (Notice Haley sporting the ISU shirt.. I was wearing Gracie's Michigan State t shirt because they were playing Iowa)

4 LCs reunited on 11/11/11.. Close to 11:11 pm :)

11/11/11 love--
Allison

Empire State of Mind

Welp, seeing as these blog posts are all going to be from last year (sorry for the delay), I guess I'll start with my visit to the Big Apple and our newest chapter of KKG at NYU!

I had a great visit to NYC and stayed with the chapter consultant, Allie, who lives and works in NYC as well as being the one who runs the show of helping this new chapter grow and function. She's great and so dedicated to what she does. She went to Michigan State and was an LC last year, so it was fun to talk about our stories from the semester and we both had the midwestern mindset still :)

The night of the first chapter meeting I attended was Halloween. NYU happens to be surrounded by the parade route, and lets just say it was a little frightening to see scary masked men and full on vampire costumes etc etc taking over the streets/subway/everywhere. During the day, I questioned whether the man in a dress was the norm or if it was because of halloween.. to each their own i guess!

I like to think I paved the way for the Cyclone Fans who stormed the city over new years for the Pinstripe Bowl. I just visited 2 months too early!  Here are some of the highlight pictures of my visit:

Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity!

Times Square

WAY too visually overwhelming!!! Bright, loud, smelly.. sensory overload!

The 2011 ball in Times Square!

Worlds Largest Macy's

Empire State building.. only 4 blocks down the road I stayed on!

Flat Iron Building

One of the many cool looking cathedrals mixed in with the skyscrapers!

The closest i got to nature all week.. Central Park, and you could still see the buildings! Truly a concrete jungle

Washington Square Park, right by NYU

My cousin Natalie's school!

Got to see Chelsea after she got off work!

World Trade Center Memorial

Putting irises on the names of all the Kappas who died during the 9/11 attacks

Allie and me

Construction on the new world trade center building!

From outside the memorial

Some NYU Kappas and me at a museum of natural history/art/i dont really know!

Radio City Music Hall

Absolutely OBSESSED with Rockefeller Plaza. OBSESSED!!!!!!

My Favorite!!!!!!!!!!

NYC Public Library / Bryant Park

A highschool right next to the apartment building I stayed in.... not sure how i would have handled school in the city!

Entrance to the high school...

NYU Kappas doing the "KKG gang sign" that I taught them. What a great influence i am :)

Mariachi band serenading the subway

Fellow LC Sareena and I before the NYU Kappa's initiation!

And to think I navigated the whole city without a smart phone! :)

x's and o's from NYC

Allison

OHHHHHHHklahoma

Although I'm not really familiar with the musical "Oklahoma," I had various renditions of the song sung at me throughout the week from people who knew I was visiting there.

It was the week after their homecoming (and sadly, they lost too to Texas Tech but it broke their however long it was winning streak at home. Yikes)


It was so fun to hear about their homecoming traditions and how they were different/similar to ISU's. They do a huge "pomping" thing where they decorate these floats by tying little fabric strips on chicken wire to make the design and it is a HUGE and LENGTHY process. I didn't get to see any of the actual floats (because they were all at the fraternities and naturally destroyed after homecoming activities) but the pictures showed they were AWESOME. Kappas did a disney world theme (and called it "Sooner World)! IT was pretty entertaining at the chapter meetings, too, because two fraternities came and serenaded them to try and get Kappa to pick them for homecoming 2012. Talk about getting ahead of the game! Crazy, but funny to see the guys get so embarrassed to have to sing in front of all 250 chapter members.

Here are some pictures from throughout the week, I know my father was jealous he couldnt be there. I got to experience a lot of campus as well as many of the great restaurants in the area!

University of Oklahoma's Clocktower. You can walk under it because it has gaps between the brick columns at the base, so the rumor is you wont graduate in 4 years if you walk under it.

The flowers one fraternity brought to the chapter to try and get them to pick them for Homecoming. The adviser put them in my room for me, so thanks boys!

The Kappa House! 92 girls lived in it, and they have a "Kappa Hall" building across the street that is where they have all their meetings, etc.

The football stadium, got a personal tour from Barry (just kidding, Dad)

The outfit I almost bought for my dad and his friend Kent to wear on gamedays, but after the mental picture of them in these I decided for the good of the mankind to refrain.

Proof I actually found the stadium (after wandering around campus to all the bookstores looking for a simple postcard, how hard should that have been?!)

Notice the speakerphones on the top of the bell tower thing on the student union. Yep, no actual bells, just a recording played through those speakers! Lame

Boomer sign in Campus Corner, the shops/restaurant/bar area right by the university. Also, the Chipotle where I ate lunch one day and the quarterback from the team walked in!

Pe-et Tree. Something historical about it, dont remember. haha OOPS!

Last but not least, how I spent my Tuesday night in Norman, Oklahoma. Experiencing my first pageant that a chapter member was competing in. WOW is all I can say! 

I loved every second of my visit here because everyone was so nice and welcoming...I won't say I might be an Oklahoma fan now too until after the ISU/OU game in a couple of weeks. I tried to rub off some good luck there for my cyclones, so we'll see how well it works!!!

x's and o's and BOOMER SOONER!

Allison